PRACTICAL- 
1 SUBJECTS 


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L162 


“ Health,  Strength,  Beauty-the  Trinity  of 

Happi^ess 


talks 


TJpon  Practical  Subjects 


EDITED  by  MARION  HARLAND 


Second  Edition  — Two 


Hundred  Thousand 


NEW 


YORK  AND  CHICAGO 


THE  WARMER 


brothers  CO., 


PUBLISHERS 


1895 


Copyright,  1895,  by  The  Warner  Broth 

Kew  York  and  Chicago. 


Company 


^>e  Barta  Press,  Boston. 


o -i  * 

) Aj  i 


V/!. 

£ 


9 

I 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  WORD. 

Had  not  the  title,  u The  Houses  We  Live  in ,”  been 
pre-empted,  it  would  have  been  selected  as  aptly  de- 
scriptive of  the  subjects  treated  of  in  these  pages. 
The  twelve  chapters  that  make  up  our  little  book 
have  to  do  with  the  Temple  of  the  Human  Body* 
God  s masterpiece  of  material  creation,  and,  next  to 
the  soul  it  enshrines,  the  noblest  study  set  for  man. 

The  earnest  thinkers  who  have  contributed  to  this 
volume  are,  one  and  all,  co-workers  in  the  task  of 
teaching  their  fellow-creatures  how  to  care  for  these 
bodies  wisely  and  well,  and  to  make  them  fit  for  the 
indwelling  of  minds  and  souls  that  will  outlive  the 
clay  tabernacles. 

The  design  of  those  who  have  projected  the 
66  Talks  is  to  send  into  thousands  of  homes  a 
manual  that  may  awaken  mothers  and  daughters  to 
r-  appreciation  of  the  dignity  and  importance  of  phy- 
ij^sical  culture,  and  supply  easy  and  practical  rules  for 
carrying  it  on.  The  work  is  especially  intended  for 
fco  the  mighty  middle  class  who  are  the  heart  of  the 
nation,  — the  tremendous  force  upon  which  national 
^^^prosperity  and  national  life  depend. 

w 


s 


A 


MARION  HARLAND. 


3 


CONTENTS 


THE  AIK  WE  BREATHE. 

Olive  Tliorne  Miller  5 

FOOD. 

Sarah  Tyson  Korer 17 

EXERCISE. 

Marion  Harland 29 

THE  NERVES. 

Lucien  C.  Warner,  M.  D 49 

CONSTIPATION. 

Louise  Eiske  Bryson,  M.  D 57 

CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 

Lucy  Hall-Brown,  M.  D 66 

CARE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  FEET,  AND  HAIR. 

Christine  Terhune  Herrick 75 

CARE  OF  THE  TEETH. 

M.  Chas.  Gottschaldt,  M.  D.,  D.D.  S 87 

SLEEP  AND  DREAMS. 

Grace  Peckham-Murray,  M.  D 100 

CLOTHING. 

Ira  De  Ver  Warner,  M.  D 110 

THE  ART  OF  DRESS. 

Annie  Jenness-Miller 131 

HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL. 

Marion  Harland 140 


4 


THE  AIR  WE  BREATHE. 


BY  OLIVE  THORNE  MILLER. 


w 


IIETHER  or  not  life  is,  after  all,  worth  liv- 
ing, whether  we  take  cheerful  or  gloomy 
views  of  the  trend  of  human  affairs,  de- 


pends far  more  than  is  generally  supposed  upon  the 
air  we  breathe. 

That  the  air  upon  which  we  depend  for  the  purifi- 
cation of  our  blood  is  of  as  much  importance  as  the 
food  which  nourishes  it,  and  that  impure  air  is  as 
injurious  as  impure  food,  it  would  hardly  seem 
necessary,  at  this  late  day,  to  say.  Yet,  if  we  may 
judge  by  the  constant  practice  of  the  majority  of  our 
neighbors,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  world 
in  general  is  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  fact.  So 
far  from  being  less  vital,  the  evidence  seems  to  prove 
that  it  is  more  so.  Else  why  were  our  grandmothers, 
in  spite  of  unhygienic  conditions  and  improper  food, 
more  robust  than  we  ? Is  it  not  because  they  had 
fireplaces  instead  of  heaters,  and  that  the  loose 
doors  and  windows,  with  the  open  chimney,  pro- 
duced a constant  freshening  and  purifying  of  the  air 
of  their  houses?  I firmly  believe  it. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  lungs  and  even  the 
bones  of  birds  who  have  lived  in  our  houses  contain 


6 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


minute  particles  of  carpet  wool  and  other  ingredients 
of  house  dust,  so  that  dissection  will  decide  whether 
a bird  lived  in  a cage  or  in  the  open  air.  Does  not 
this  fact  warn  us  that  we  also  must,  with  every 
breath,  draw  in  the  fine  atoms  constantly  floating  in 
the  air,  worn  off  from  the  objects  about  us,  which 
cannot  possibly  be  a benefit  to  us  ? 

Worse  even  than  that,  we  take  back  into  our 
lungs  the  used-up  material  they  have  thrown  off. 
Consider  for  a moment  what  we  do  when  we  breathe. 
Omitting  details  and  explanations,  it  is  simply  this  : 
when  we  draw  in  a breath  we  carry  to  the  lungs 
air,  one  ingredient  of  which  is  oxygen.  The  blood 
from  the  whole  body,  constantly  coming  to  the  lungs, 
absorbs  the  oxygen,  and  at  the  same  time  throws  off 
impurities  in  the  form  of  carbonic  acid  and  minute 
quantities  of  animal  matter,  all  of  which  we  expel 
from  the  system  with  our  exhaled  breath.  Now, 
carbonic  acid  is  poison  to  us,  and  the  animal  matter 
is,  in  an  unventilated  room,  deposited  on  the  furni- 
ture and  walls,  where  it  decays  and  becomes  a poison 
also.  Is  it  not  plain,  then,  that  it  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  provide  a way  to  carry  off  the  exhaled 
breath,  loaded  with  its  impurities,  and  to  supply  its 
place  with  air  full  of  oxygen  ? 

I shall  not  offer  you  a scientific  treatise.  Science 
has  been  proclaiming  these  facts  for  years.  What  I 
desire  is  simply  to  point  out  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  we  defraud  our  blood  of  proper  purification, 


THE  AIK  WE  BKEATHI^  7 

and,  therefore,  our  bodies  of  health,  for  upon  the 
condition  of  the  blood  depends  the  condition  of  the 
body  nourished  by  it. 

First,  what  provisions  do  we  usually  make  for  pure 
air  in  our  living-rooms  ? We  begin  by  building  our 
houses  as  nearly  as  possible  air-tight,  and  putting  on 
window  and  door  strips,  if  not  double  windows,  to 
exclude  every  breath  of  air.  Says  a thoughtful 
writer  on  this  subject:  “ Were  houses  much  better 
constructed  than  they  are,  the  inmates  would  in  many 
cases  be  suffocated  outright,  as  they  often  partially 
are,  with  the  degree  of  perfection  we  have  already 
attained.” 

Having  thus  effectually  excluded  pure  air,  we 
proceed  to  vitiate  what  we  have  shut  in  with  us 
(and  which  in  many  houses  is  not  changed,  except  by 
the  momentary  opening  of  a door,  from  one  month’s 
end  to  another)  by  our  heating  arrangements.  In 
the  country  by  great  stoves  which  burn  the  air  and 
often  throw  off  a dangerous  gas ; in  the  city  by 
furnaces  or  heaters  of  different  sorts.  Fireplaces, 
which  would  provide  means  of  ventilation,  are 
stopped  up  to  prevent  the  escape  of  heat.  As  if 
this  were  not  enough,  we  complete  the  work  by 
lighting  — in  the  evening  — gas  or  lamps,  which  are 
worse  than  the  heaters ; and  in  such  an  atmosphere 
we  and  our  children  pass  a large  part  of  our  lives. 

When  the  danger  is  understood,  a little  thought 
and  a little  care  will  reduce  these  menaces  to  our 


8 


TALKS  TJPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


health  to  a minimum.  To  provide  against  the  dry 
heat  of  stoves  and  furnaces,  water  should  always 
be  kept  where  it  will  evaporate.  Furnaces  usually 
have  a reservoir  which  ought  to  be  carefully  supplied, 
and  stoves  should  be  furnished  with  an  earthen,  or 
china,  or  even  glass  dish,  which  is  kept  filled  with 
water,  either  standing  on  the  stove,  or  hung  by  a 
wire  to  some  projecting  knob  or  ornament.  If  filled 
when  the  dish  is  cold,  subsequent  heat  will  not 
break  it.  One  who  is  at  all  sensitive  can  tell  the 
moment  the  water  reservoir  is  empty,  by  a “ bad  feel- 
ing in  the  head.”  Doubtless  much  of  the  headache 
from  which  women  suffer  is  caused  by  this  alone. 

A complete  change  of  air,  which  in  a room  con- 
stantly occupied  should  be  made  once  or  twice  a day, 
is  not  difficult  to  arrange.  First,  that  it  may  be 
fresh  and  sweet  in  the  morning,  ventilation  should 
go  on  all  night.  A sash  lowered  from  the  top  two 
or  three  inches  and  another  raised  the  same  distance 
from  the  bottom  will  let  in  no  rain,  and  insure  a de- 
lightful atmosphere  in  which  to  begin  the  day.  The 
reason  two  openings  are  necessary  is  because  ventila- 
tion consists  of  two  operations,  — bringing  in  of  pure 
air,  and  driving  out  of  the  impure,  — and  this  is  more 
thoroughly  accomplished  by  two  openings,  one  of 
which  is  near  the  ceiling  and  the  other  near  the 
floor.  If  the  house  is  in  a city,  where  open  windows 
may  be  unsafe,  the  sashes  may  be  secured  in  their 
position  by  small  bolts  into  the  window  frame,  and 


THE  AIR  WE  BREATHE.  9 

the  slight  trouble  and  expense  will  be  well  repaid 
in  improved  health  and  spirits. 

To  change  the  air  during  the  day,  it  is  a good 
plan  to  open  a window  several  inches  at  top  and 
bottom,  while  the  family  is  temporarily  absent,  at 
some  meal,  for  instance.  Half  an  hour  will  not  only 
change  the  air,  but  the  mental  tone  of  the  whole 
family. 

When  I think  of  the  sleeping  customs  of  many 
families,  I am  surprised  that  one  of  them  is  left 
alive.  No  doubt  many  have  died  from  these  very 
habits,  though  the  truth  may  not  be  suspected.  We 
should  rise  from  healthful  sleep  refreshed,  cheerful, 
and  ready  for  our  day’s  work.  But  many  of  us,  on 
the  contrary,  open  our  eyes,  tired,  dull,  headachy, 
gloomy,  or  irritable,  and  all-'because  of  the  air  we 
have  taken  into  our  lungs  all  night.  To  begin  with, 
bedrooms  are  usually  furnished  with  wool  carpets, 
and  often  with  curtains  which  make  the  air  stuffy 
and  hold  impurities  which  we  must  breathe.  Fre- 
quently the  air  is  already  foul  from  the  room  having 
been  used  all  day,  yet  we  close  windows  and  doors, 
and  light  a lamp  or  gas,  which  many  of  us  bum  all 
night.  In  the  country  where  the  refuse  from  our 
washstands,  etc.,  is  not  at  once  carried  off  by  pipes, 
we  have  in  our  close  room  uncovered  receptacles, 
giving  out  a constant  stream  of  impurities.  Is  it, 
then , any  wonder  that  we  rise  unrefreshed  ? That 
we  have  muddy  complexions  and  dull  eyes,  and  are 


10  TALKS  TOOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

forever  dosing  ourselves,  or  ruining  our  skins  with 
cosmetics,  trying  to  cover  up  the  disastrous  results  of 
such  abuses  ? 

What  are  the  reasons  given,  even  by  sensible  per- 
sons, for  shutting  themselves  up  in  air-tight  boxes  — 
poisoned  boxes,  we  may  well  say  — for  one  third  of 
the  twenty-four  hours  ? I think  they  are  comprised 
in  these  four : — 

First:  They  fear  the  night  air. 

Second : They  dislike  the  darkness. 

Third : They  fear  a draught. 

Fourth : They  dread  the  cold. 

In  answer  to  the  first  and  most  frequently  urged  • 
excuse,  I will  say  that  a great  deal  of  nonsense  has 
been  written  about  “ night  air.”  It  may  be  that  a 
particularly  delicate  person  should  protect  herself 
against  the  dampness  that  is  sometimes  felt  when  the 
sun  goes  down,  but  the  night  air  itself  is  a thousand 
times  better  to  breathe  than  used-up  air  of  the  day- 
time. In  Colorado,  where  thousands  go  every  yeai 
for  health,  the  choicest  place  to  sleep  is  in  the  open 
air.  Almost  , every  house  in  that  Mecca  of  con- 
sumptives,— Colorado  Springs, — has  its  tent  in  the 
yard  for  sleeping,  from  June  to  November,  and  the 
invalids  of  the  family  claim  the  tent  as  their  right, 
because  of  the  benefit  to  their  health.  The  air  of 
Colorado  is  dry,  but  it  is  night  air,  nevertheless. 
How  often,  too,  do  we  hear  of  persons  who  have  been 
cured  of  lung  diseases  by  retiring  to  the  woods, 


THE  AIR  WE  BREATHE. 


11 


camping  out,  sleeping  out  of  doors,  and  giving  their 
abused  lungs  the  healing  there  is  in  pure,  fresh  air. 

A dislike  of  the  darkness,  which  is  the  excuse  for 
night  lamps,  would  not  be  indulged  for  a moment,  I 
am  sure,  if  we  realized  what  we  were  doing.  A 
lighted  lamp  or  jet  of  gas,  like  a living  creature,  ab- 
sorbs oxygen,  and  throws  off  carbonic  acid.  Scien- 
tific experiments  have  proved  that  a human  being 
uses  up  or  vitiates  every  hour  about  five  hundred 
cubic  feet  of  air.  So  that  in  a room  ten  feet  square, 
and  the  same  high,  one  person  will  exhaust  the  oxy- 
gen and  make  the  air  unfit  for  breathing  in  just 
two  hours.  In  a smaller  or  lower  room,  or  with 
more  than  one  inhabitant  or  a burning  light,  the 
air  becomes  foul  in  a proportionally  shorter  time. 

The  dread  of  draughts,  which  is  the  third  apology 
for  bad  air,  I regard  as  a serious  menace  to  health 
and  society,  being  the  most  widespread,  and  one 
which  is,  unfortunately,  not  confined  to  the  ignorant. 
Into  this  fear  we  train  our  children  systematically,- 
although,  of  course,  unconsciously.  We  curtain  our 
cribs  so  that  the  unfortunate  baby  shall  breathe  its 
own  breath  again  and  again*  sometimes  even  covering 
the  infant’s  face  while  sleeping.  How.  many  times 
in  cars  and  public  places  have  I longed  to  snatch  off 
the  thick  grenadine,  the  handkerchief,  or  the  knitted 
woollen  veil,  and  give  the  fresh  air  of  heaven  access 
to  the  suffering  lungs!  It  is  no  causerfor  surprise 
that  so  many  children  die  in  their  first  year,  when 


12  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

we  think  of  the  impurities  forced  back  into  their 
lungs.  It  is  a greater  wonder  that  one  survives. 

Then  we  cultivate  the  fear  of  draughts,  by  first 
providing  that  the  infant  shall  never  feel  a touch  of 
the  breeze,  except  on  face  and  hands,  and,  when  the 
child  can  understand,  by  forever  dinning  into  its  ears 
the  terrible  danger.  There  is  a tendency  in  human 
nature  to  find  what  we  look  for.  Physicians  know 
well  that  a disease  may  be  brought  on  by  the  ex- 
pectation or  fear  of  it,  and  doubtless  it  is  far  more 
often  induced  in  that  way  than  even  they  imagine. 
A woman  whom  I knew,  having  suffered  some  time 
with  an  unusual  pain  in  one  spot,  sent  for  her  physi- 
cian, and  told  him  she  feared  she  had  a cancer. 
After  having  the  symptoms  minutely  described,  he 
told  her  it  was  nonsense ; she  had  not  the  first 
symptom  of  cancer.  “ W ell,  doctor,”  she  said, 

“won’t  you  tell  me  the  symptoms  of  cancer,  so  I shall 
know  if  I do  have  one  ? ” “ Indeed,  I will  not,”  said 

he ; “if  I did,  you’d  have  one  well  started  before  the 
end  of  the  week.” 

That  was  an  enlightened  physician.  I know  a 
man  of  particularly  sensitive  temperament,  who,  by 
simply  reading  a medical  treatise  on  disease,  can 
bring  upon  himself  all  the  symptoms.  Being  a man 
of  sense,  he  does  not  make  this  sort  of  literature  his 
daily  diet;  yet  I know  women  who  do. 

We  can  cultivate  our  fear  of  a draught  until  we 
make  everybody  else  uncomfortable,  and  until  we 


THE  AIIl  WE  BREATHE. 


U 

really  do  take  cold  from  one.  But  even  if  we  have 
brought  ourselves  into  that  unfortunate  state  we 
need  not  sleep  in  bad  air.  Windows  arranged  as  al- 
ready described,  open  a few  inches  at  top  and  bottom, 
will  change  the  air  of  a room  without  direct  draught. 
If  the  room  is  small  and  the  bed  near  the  window* 
a screen,  or  even  a chair  with  a shawl  or  blanket 
thrown  over  the  back,  will  serve  to  keep  the  air 
from  blowing  over  the  bed. 

Fear  of  cold,  again,  need  not  necessitate  the  in- 
halation of  bad  air.  The  room  may  be  warmed  by 
a furnace,  or  even  a stove,  if  the  air  is  changed  as 
recommended,  though  sleep  is  vastly  more  refreshing 
in  a -cool  room  with  blankets  enough  to  ensure  one 
against  being  chilled. 

Right  here  let  me  say  that  persons  sleeping  on  the 
popular  brass  or  iron  bedstead,  with  only  a hair  mat- 
tress on  the  woven  wire  bottom,  who  find  it  hard  to 
keep  warm  in  a cold  room,  will  overcome  the  diffi- 
culty by  laying  paper  between  the  mattress  and  the 
woven  wire.  It  may  be  simply  newspapers,  renewed 
once  a week  or  fortnight,  as  they  become  worn.  No 
blanket  'or  other  covering  will  do  so  well  as  the  news- 
paper, and  that  should  be  used  only  in  a perfectly 
cold  room  when  one  has  difficulty  in  keeping  warm. 

The  ideal  bedroom  should  have  neither  carpet  nor 
woollen  hanging.  The  floor  should  be  of  wood,  with 
perhaps  one  or  two  small  rugs,  shaken  every  day; 
or  the  floor  may  be  covered  with  matting  with  no 


14  TALKS  TTPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

rugs.  The  bedding  should  be  thoroughly  aired  every 
morning.  The  best  way  is  for  it  to  hang  in  the  sun 
•and  wind  for  an  hour  or  two,  but  if  that  is  incon- 
venient, it  should  at  least  be  spread  open  widely,  and 
the  sun  and  air  be  allowed  to  reach  it  and  the  un- 
covered mattress.  The  difference  in  feeling  be- 
tween a bed  thus  aired  and  one  made  up  without  it 
is  wonderful. 

There  has  been  a great  hue  and  cry  about  sewer 
gas  in  our  city  bedrooms,  and  many  people,  being 
frightened  by  it,  have  gone  so  far  as  to  banish  the 
convenient  s-et-bowl  with  its  unlimited  and  freshly 
drawn  hot  and  cold  water,  and  efficient  drainage, 
and  returned  to  the  clumsy  basin  and  ewer  with  its 
heavy  lifting,  its  stale  water,  and  standing  slops. 

There  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  the  slightest  need  for 
this  return  to  the  inconvenient  ways  of  our  ancestors. 
If  bedrooms  are  properly  ventilated,  and  the  supply 
of  fresh  air  from  the  outside  is  unchecked,  I am  sure 
there  will  be  no  trouble  from  this  source.  I know  a 
family,  some  of  whom  are  delicate,  who  have  lived 
in  old  houses  with  unhygienic  plumbing,  with  set- 
oowls  in  every  bedroom,  yet  because  they  were, 
brought  up  to  luxuriate  in  fresh  air,  to  have  windows 
at  night  open  wide,  from  January  to  June  and  from 
June  to  January,  have  never  suffered  in  the  least 
from  it. 

I think  it  is  PucJc  who  defines  a sleeping-car  as  a, 
wheeled  vehicle  for  the  transportation  of  bad  air 


THE  AIR  WE  BREATHE. 


15 


from  one  city  to  another,  and  I never  ride  in  one 
that  I do  not  see  the  justice  of  it,  and  wonder  that 
every  one  who  occupies  a lower  berth  made  up  in 
the  usual  way  is  not  smothered.  Think  how  the 
porter  prepares  the  box-like  compartment;  double 
windows,  both  shut;  heavy  shades  drawn  down; 
plush  backs  and  seats  piled  with  unaired  mattresses 
and  blankets,  probably  laden  with  the  breath  of 
countless  predecessors ; and  the  whole  shut  in  with 
heavy  woollen  hangings.  How  can  one  breathe  ? 

The  safe  way  to  ensure  plenty  of  air  without  the 
much  feared  draught  is  to  have  the  head  toward  the 
engine,  and  the  window  at  the  foot  open  a few  inches, 
with  the  common  window  screen  to  keep  out  cinders. 
The  motion  of  the  train  will  force  air  in,  drive  it 
against  the  back  of  the  seat  at  our  feet,  and  not 
against  the  person.  Upper  berths  are  a shade  better, 
because  they  cannot  be  shut  up  so  closely,  and  a 
ventilator  or  two  may  be  left  open,  though  generally 
some  slave  to  the  fear  of  a draught  will  have  them 
closed  as  tightly  as  possible. 

Nor  is  it  at  night  only  that  the  air  of  our  cars  is 
bad.  Perhaps  nine-tenths  of  the  passengers  on  our 
trains  will  ride  all  day  in  a car  with  fifty  or  sixty 
persons,  with  every  window  closed,  and  often  a red- 
hot  stove  burning  the  air.  Moreover,  they  will  shiver 
and  draw  up  their  wraps  when  a perishing  neighbor 
opens  a window  for  a breath,  or  the  conductor  or 
train  boy  lets  in  a little  air.  by  opening  a door. 


16 


TALKS  UPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

Street-cars  in  our  cities  are  as  bad.  If  one  of  the 
opponents  of  “freshness”  could  for  a moment  stand 
at  the  door  and  get  a whiff  of  the  air  that  comes  out 
of  one  of  these  packed  vehicles,  and  realize  the  cause 
of  its  foulness,  I’m  sure  he  — or  even  she  — would 
choose  to  stand  on  the  platform,  unpleasant  as  that 
is,  to  braving  the  horrors  of  that  modern  Calcutta 
Black  Hole. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  headaches,  and  nervous  pros- 
tration, and  a thousand  other  nameless  ills  are  killing 
off  our  women  ; no  wonder  that  women’s  hospitals 
flourish,  and  that  doctors  get  rich,  and  their  wives 
olaze  with  diamonds  ; no  wonder  men  have  their  sec- 
ond, third,  fourth,  and  not  seldom  their  fifth  wife ; 
no  wonder  young  men  — who  keep  their  eyes  open 
- dread  to  take  a wife,  because  of  the  inevitable 
doctors’  bills  ; no  wonder  a facetious  writer  of  our  day 
can  say  that  his  wife  “is  abroad,  supporting  a 
doctor  ; no  wonder  we  are  a race  of  nervous,  head- 
achy, miserable  creatures,  afraid  of  heaven’s  breath. 

Such  shall  we  be,  so  long  as  we  insist  on  defraud- 
ing our  lungs  of  their  vital  need, — fresh,  pure  air, — 
both  night  and  day. 


FOOD. 


BY  SABAH  TYSOH  BOEEB. 

ENOUGH,  perhaps  more  than  enough,  has  been 
said  and  written  on  the  pernicious  effects 
of  a carelessly  selected  dietary,  and  still  the 
world  at  large  is  in  ignorance  of  the  truth  that  the 
human  creature’s  character  and  destiny  are  largely 
dependent  upon  what  he  eats,  and  when,  and  how. 
With  changes  of  age  and  of  climate,  the  marvellous 
mechanism  we  call  “ Nature  ”■  dictates  variations  in 
kinds  and  quantities  of  food. 

Man  has  not  only  to  complete  and  repair  the 
structure  which  constitutes  his  body,  but  has  also  to 
create  heat  in  a greater  or  less  degree  in  accordance 
with  the  climate  in  which  he  lives.  A wise  combina- 
tion of  food  is  necessary  to  keep  the  machine  in  per- 
fect working  order.  The  rapidly  growing  infant, 
whose  structure  must  be  guided  on  wise  and  slender 
lines  marked  out  before  birth,  whose  organs  must  be 
condensed  and  solidified,  and  whose  tissues  are 
formed  with  remarkable  rapidity,  requires  a milk 
diet.  After  the  first  year  a mixed  dietary  should  be- 
gin. Then,  well-cooked  wheaten  flour,  eggs,  and  a 
little  meat  may  follow,  and  be  increased  by  the  addi- 
tion of  various  simple  foods ; no  sweets,  save  those 

17 


18  TALKS  TJPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

given  by  Nature,  no  hot  breads,  cakes,  puddings,  or 
pastries.  Teach  the  growing  child  that  eating  and 
selecting  his  food  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  occupa- 
tions of  his  life,  and  that  to  follow  the  dietary  of  a 
companion  without  questioning  the  suitability  to  him- 
self is  suicidal.  Ybuth  in  the  full  vigor  of  life, 
having  the  rational  outdoor  exercise  and  the  necessary 
amount  of  sleep,  can  and  will,  under  the  stimulus 
of  a palate  judiciously  trained  by  parents,  and 
guardians,  eat  in  quantity  and  variety  sufficient  to 
fill  all  the  demands  of  his  system.  The  quantity,  by 
the  way,  is  too  often  criticised  by  the  unthinking, 
thus  preventing  the  individual  from  taking  his  proper 
allowance  at  the  table.  A certain  vacuum  must  be 
filled,  and  too  often  under  such  circumstances  it  is 
filled  with  trash.  Here  comes  the  harm.  Let  him 
eat.  Nature’s  demands  are  great,  and  the  surplus,  if 
there  be  any,  will  be  stored  up  as  reserve  force. 

Food  requirements  vary  with  such  wide  limits  in 
different  individuals,  with  different  occupations, 
and  in  different  climates,  that  it  becomes  impossible 
to  give  a prescribed  die’tary.  The  person  who  takes 
abundant  exercise,  expending,  much  energy,  must 
have  food  in  larger  quantity  and  not  in  such  an 
easily  digested  form  as  the  one  confined  at  the  desk 
in  an  ill-ventilated,  over-heated  office  or  schoolroom. 
The  former  can  take  his  full  quantity  of  starchy 
foods  and  meats,  and  with  a supply  of  oxygen  can 
consolidate  his  frame  and  muscles  and  enable  him  to 


FOOD. 


19 


resist  many  unseen  evils  which  present  themselves  to 
the  over-fed,  over-fat,  and  inactive  body.  We  must 
keep  before  us  the  principle  that  it  is  not  the  quan- 
tity of  food  received  which  nourishes  the  body,  but 
the  amount  of  food  that  can  be  digested  and  assimi- 
lated. All  else  is  worse  than  waste  whose  presence 
clogs  the  delicate  digestive  organs,  throwing  them 
out  of  order.  Nature  teaches  the  healthy  individual 
how  to  live,  but  our  deviations  from  the  laws  of 
Nature  so  blunt  our  instincts  that  one  can  scarcely 
tell  what  Nature  is.  Thus  tempted,  the  ignorant 
eater  pleases  his  diseased  palate,  takes  greater  quan- 
tities than  can  be  assimilated,  and  of  too  stimulating 
a nature,  — too  much  meat,  too  little  fruit  and  green 
vegetables,  with  an  over-quantity  of  starchy  foods. 
Men,  as  a class,  eat  too  much  of  the  albuminous 
foods ; women  too  much  sugar  and  starch,  especially 
bread.  Hence,  men  are  prone  to  kidney  trouble, 
women  to  corpulency  and  constipation. 

The  individual  who  devours  rather  than  selects 
his  food,  can,  during  the  first  half  of  his  life,  es- 
pecially if  he  is  active,  get  on  fairly  well,  but  the 
latter  half  is  entirely  different.  Even  an  over-quan- 
tity of  food  in  the  early  part  of  life  may  be  taken 
with  impunity,  and  the  surplus  stored  away  as  reserve 
force,  but  entirely  different  tactics  must  be  observed 
after  we  cross  the  meridian.  Energy  is  declining? 
and  the  unemployed  materials,  instead  of  packing 
away  as  a reserve  force,  clog  the  intestinal  track  and 


20  TALKS  TJPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

form  surplus  fat ; the  individual  becomes  corpulent, 
heavy,  and  diseased.  Occasionally  one  finds  a per- 
son who  does  not  have  the  power  to  store  the  fat. 
Then,  in  after  life,  if  he  keeps  up  his  stimulating 
food,  rheumatism,  gout,  kidney  and  liver  troubles 
become  his  closest  companions.  While  we  take  food 
in  the  proportions  to  suit  each  organ,  and  in  such 
quantities  as  are  required  for  the  individual,  the  in- 
come is  suitable  to  the  outgo  and  the  balance  care- 
fully guarded ; peace  and  harmony  prevail ; the 
machine  runs  easily  and  quietly.  Let  us  indulge  in 
over-feeding,  and  the  whole  system  is  at  once  out  of 
order.  The  stomach,  being  the  hub  upon  which  the 
machinery  revolves,  must  be  well  greased  and  in 
good  order. 

For  convenience  we  will  divide  our  foods  into  three 
parts : proteids  or  albuminous  foods,  which  are  also 
known  as  nitrogenous  substances ; carbonaceous,  the 
heat  and  force-giving  foods,  and  the  inorganic.  The 
first  named  have  for  their  basis  albumen,  fibrin, 
gelatin,  gluten,  and  casein.  The  principal  foods  of 
this  class  are  of  animal  origin,  such  as  meats,  eggs, 
and  milk.  But  they  also  exist  in  the  vegetable  king- 
dom, as  the  gluten  in  wheat,  legumin  in  peas,  beans, 
and  lentils.  This  class  may  be  said  to  contain  the 
constructing  and  repairing  material  for  the  tissues  of 
the  body.  They  are  also  supposed  to  furnish  that 
from  which  come  our  digestive  fluids. 

The  second  class, — the  carbonaceous, — are  the 


FOOD. 


21 


fuel  foods,  these  being  burned  in  all  parts  of  the 
body,  but  principally  in  the  muscles,  to  give  energy 
and  force  and  to  keep  up  the  temperature  of  the 
body.  All  work  must  be  done  by  the  energy  pro- 
duced by  the  burning  of  these  foods. 

The  third  class,  the  water  and  salts,  are,  of  course, 
most  necessary  in  proper  amount.  W ater  carries  the 
food  through  the  body  and  forms  nearly  two  thirds 
of  the  weight.  Drinking  water  should  be  fresh,  and 
pure,  and  charged  with  air.  Hot  water,  conse- 
quently, is  insipid,  haying  lost  its  gases  in  boiling. 
This  fact  should  be  remembered  by  those  who  have 
the  care  of  children,  especially  where  a slender  food 
supply  is  necessary.  In  boiling  the  water,  which  is 
usually  done  to  kill  the  germs,  the  minerals  are  de- 
posited on  the  teakettle,  instead  of  in  the  system  for 
bone-making  material.  If  a child  has  an  abundance 
of  good  food,  little  harm  may  come,  but  to  the  under- 
fed it  is  detrimental.  We  see,  then,  that  pure  water, 
as  it  forms  three  fourths  of  our  weight,  is  of  as  great 
importance  as  pure  food  — I am  of  the  opinion,  of 
far  greater.  In  country . places,  where  there  is  an 
abundance  of  pure  air  and  good  food,  typhoid  has 
numerous  victims,  and  is  usually  traced  to  the  well, 
which,  perhaps,  is  only  a few  feet  beneath  the  surface, 
with  a drain  near  .by.  Water  under  such  circum- 
stances is  almost  sure  to  be  charged  with  injurious 
matterv  It  may  be  perfectly  clear,  and  even  without 
bad  taste,  and  odorless,  but  nevertheless  the  germs 


22  TALKS  TJPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

of  disease  are  there,  and  in  a particular  season  will 
spread  death  throughout  a large  territory.  The  poi- 
sonous germs  of  cholera  and  typhoid  are  contained 
in  evacuations  from  the  bowels  of  persons  suffering 
from  the  disease.  Now,  if  these  be  thrown  out  care- 
lessly without  proper  disinfection,  they  filter  through 
the  earth,  finding  their  way  too  often  into  streams 
and  wells  the  water  of  which  is  used  for  drinking 
purposes.  This  will,  of  course,  infect  a whole  com- 
munity. In  time  of  epidemic,  all  water  should  be 
boiled,  cooled,  and  filtered  for  drinking  purposes. 

The  atmosphere  is  the  only  gaseous  food  required 
by  man,  and  it  is  necessary  that  the  supply  of  oxy- 
gen be  continuous.  During  the  autumn,  especially 
when  the  weather  is  becoming  chilly,  and  before  the 
time  to  change  for  heavier  clothing,  the  majority  of 
people  sit  in  ill-ventilated  rooms,  thus  laying  the 
foundation  for  a winter  of  sickness. 

For  man’s  good  being,  then,  we  need  good  food, 
pure  water,  and  pure  air.  The  rational  way  of  living 
for  the  town-dweller  is  to  retire,  as  a rule,  not  later 
than  half-past  ten,  sleep  in  a well-ventilated  room, 
take  one  long  nap,  and  at  the  end  of  that  nap,  in- 
stead of  turning  over,  turn  out  of  bed,  take  a tepid 
or  cold  bath  — I should  say  tepid  for  women  — and 
use  a flesh  brush  or  a towel  until  the  skin  is  in  a 
glow.  Dress  sensibly,  loosely,  and  warmly,  and  then 
go  to  a well-lighted,  well- ventilated  breakfast-room, 
where  a warm  breakfast  in  winter  or  a cool  one  in 


FOOD. 


23 


summer  is  in  waiting.  A saucer  of  well-cooked 
oatmeal,  wheat  granule  (best  and  most  wholesome 
when  cooked  twenty-four  hours,  not  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes),  cream  or  milk,  as  one  chooses.  Cream  is 
best  in  winter,  milk  in  summer.  Then,  if  you  like, 
a baked  apple  with  a piece  of  toast  or  a “ whole- wheat  ” 
gem,  or  a cup  of  coffee  or  cocoa  made  with  water, 
not  milk.  In  summer,  I should  take  fruit  first, 
then,  perhaps,  a cold  cereal  with  sugar  or  milk.  In 
winter  cereal  first,  and  fruit  after.  The  person  who 
has  physical  labor  as  well  as  mental  may  also  add  a 
soft-boiled  egg  or  chop,  or  a broiled  steak  with  a 
piece  of  bacon,  but  no  two  of  these  together.  As 
a people,  Americans  eat  too  much  meat. 

Avoid  drinking  liquids  at  meals  in  large  quantities? 
but  take  plenty  of  cold  water  (not  iced)  between 
meals.  A glass  of  water  as  soon  as  you  have  taken 
your  morning  bath  will  frequently  correct  constipa- 
tion, even  in  the  chronic  stage.  Take  time  not  only 
to  masticate  and  swallow  your  breakfast,  but  to  en- 
joy it  and  to  converse  as  well.  A bright  companion 
in  a warm  breakfast-room  in  mid-winter  warms  you 
for  the  whole  day.  One  cannot  perform  the  same 
amount  of  labor,  either  mental  or  physical,  or,  keep 
the  body  elastic  and  the  muscles  in  good  trim  on  a 
breakfast  of  hot  cakes  and  syrups  and  fried  foods  in 
over  quantities,  washed  down  by  a half  pint  of  warm 
liquid,  as  if  he  had  partaken  of  the  breakfast  men- 
tioned just  now. 


24  TALKS  TJPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

Children  are  frequently  allowed  to  remain  in  bed 
until  ten  minutes  before  schooltime,  then  to  swallow 
their  food  whole,  and  start  out  on  a cold  morning  for 
their  day’s  work.  Under  such  circumstances  they 
will  be  nervous  wrecks  by  the  time  they  arrive  at 
manhood,  and  are  decrepit  at  middle  age. 

The  noonday  meal  should  be  light,  and  x>i  whole- 
some and  easily  digested  food.  Men  who  work  out 
of  doors  in  winter  should  take  an  abundance  of  heat- 
giving food.  The  fats  rank  first  in  order.  Butter, 
cream,  and  olive  oil  may  be  used  frequently  with 
other  foods.  A person  who  cannot  digest  a tea- 
spoonful of  olive  oil  alone,  or  a piece  of  butter,  can 
easily  digest  both  when  mingled  with  a salad,  and 
accompanied  by  a bit  of  toast  or  water  cracker. 

The  heavy  meal  of  the  day  — call  it  “ dinner”  or 
“ supper,”  as  you  will  — should  be  served  at  the  close 
of  the  afternoon ; for  the  farmer,  I should  say  about 
five  o’clock,  for  the  town-dweller,  from  six  to  seven. 
No  matter  how  simple,  let  it  be  the  social  occasion  of 
the  day,  where  family  views  are  exchanged  in  the  hap- 
piest manner,  and  all  unpleasant  things  put  aside. 
The  brighter  the  conversation,  the  better  the  digestion. 
Soup  should  precede  the  dinner,  even  if  it  is  little 
better  than  hot  water,  flavored.  A tired  person  with 
a tired  stomach  certainly  cannot  with  ease  put  solid 
food  at  the  bottom  of  it  and  feel  comfortable.  A 
certain  sense  of  satiety  is  felt  at  once,  after  which  a 
scanty  amount  of  food  only  can  be  taken.  Thus  a 


FOOD. 


25 


person  is  frequently  deceived  by  a feeling  that  his 
appetite  is  satisfied,  when  it  is  only  because  the  over- 
tired stomach  has  received  too  heavy  a burden  at  first. 
Digestion  under  such  circumstances  is  exceedingly 
slow,  and  headache  will  be  the  result  the  following 
morning.  Warm  beef  or  mutton  soup  ivill  tone  the 
stomach  and  excite  the  mucous  lining  and  prepare 
it  for  the  hearty  meal  that  is  to  follow.  A dinner 
would  not  be  a dinner  to  me  if  it  were  robbed  of 
soup  and  salad.  Variety  is  of  great  importance. 
Two  vegetables  only  should  be  served  with  a single 
course.  In  winter,  when  there  is  a scarcity  of 
vegetables,  perhaps  one  each  day  will  be  quite 
enough,  allowing  the  salad  to  give  us  the  green. 
This  may  be  of  lettuce,  water-cress,  cabbage,  or 
celery.  One  or  the  other  can  be  secured  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  United  States.  Then,  for  dry 
vegetables,  one  can  have  potatoes,  hominy,  rice,  and 
we  have  the  roots  which  are  valuable  as  waste  foods, 
such  as  carrots,  turnips,  and  parsnips.  In  some  of 
the  climates  we  can  have  a greater  variety,  but  it  is 
better  to  eat  such  things  as  are  in  season  in  the 
locality  in  which  you  live.  Proportion  each  meal 
from  youth  to  middle  age,  — four  times  as  much  car- 
bon as  nitrogen.  Years  ago,  when  people  did  not 
live  two  years  in  one,  they  used  five  times  as  much 
carbon  as  nitrogen,  but  our  active,  nervous  tempera- 
ments wear  out  the  machine,  so  that  almost  constant 
repair  is  necessary.  After  the  active  part  of  life  is 


26  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

spent,  say  the  first  half  of  a century,  different  tactics 
must  be  enforced.  Less  energy  remains,  less  power 
to  convert  food  into  good  stock.  A balance  now  is 
detrimental.  The  average  individual  at  this  time  of 
life  may  feel  that  a greater  amount  of  stimulating 
food  is  the  all-important  thing  to  keep  up  his 
declining  strength.  This  is  an  error.  Go  back 
gradually  to  the  point  from  which  you  started,  and 
much  better  ends  will  be  accomplished.  Heavy 
dinners  cannot  be  consumed  with  ease  now,  and  if 
indulged  in  too  often,  the  latter  term  of  life  will  be 
a burden  rather  than  a happy  old  age.  At  seventy, 
still  greater  care  and  curtailment  are  necessary.  If 
you  wish  to  add  another  term,  a still  smaller  amount 
of  food  is  required,  — fruits  and  simple  foods  in 
moderate  quantities.  Public  opinion  is,  I know,  di- 
rectly opposed  to  this.  One  feels  that,  as  old  age 
comes  on,  stimulants  are  necessary.  But  remember 
that  Nature’s  demands  are  simple.  Keep  to  the  laws 
of  health,  that  at  eighty  men  may  be  found  in  good 
health,  and  with  a fair  amount  of  brain  energy. 

Do  not  insist  that  a glass  of  milk  shall  be  added 
to  the  heavy  meal.  Milk  alone  is  sufficient  food  in 
old  age.  Weak  Ceylon  or  India  teas  are  the  best 
beverages,  .as  milk  is  food,  not  beverage.  Well- 
cooked  cereals,  light  soups,  a little  meat  and  fish  are 
the  best  dietary.  Fish  is  especially  adapted  to  old 
age,  as  it  is  easily  masticated.  If  we  would  but  live 
in  a rational  way  from  infancy  to  old  age,  following 


FOOD. 


27 


out  Nature’s  directions  as  indicated  by  the  teeth,  how 
much  better  we  would  be.  As  each  tooth  comes 
through,  and  drops  out,  it  speaks  to  us  a lesson  too 
little  heeded.  The  brainy  man  at  eighty  is  muscular 
and  rather  spare.  The  man  who. is  portly  at  fifty,  as  a 
rule,  does  not  get  far  beyond  that  age.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone is  a monument  of  careful  feeding.  He  has 
accomplished  the  full  work  of  a lifetime,  and  still  he 
has  always  found  time  to  masticate  each  mouthful  of 
starch  food  thirty  times  before  swallowing  it.  He 
also  takes  time  with  his  family  for  the  social  hour  at 
each  meal,  and  will  probably  sit  in  his  chair  at 
one  hundred,  with  an  active  brain  and  without  an 
ache  or  pain. 

An  old  teacher,  to  whom  I was  consigned  as  a 
child,  is  still  active  and  earning  her  support  at 
eighty-nine.  An  invalid  at  twenty,  she  took  up  the 
study  of  diet  and  has  followed  Nature’s  laws  to  the 
present  time,  in  consequence  of  which  she  has  a 
sound  mind  in  a sound  body. 

Nature,  so  kind  in  all  her  outlooks,  has  laid  before 
us  all  these  plans  to  enable  us  to  be  useful  to  the 
very  end.  Humphrey  tells  us  “That  under  such 
circumstances  we  may  and  should  burn  the  candle 
briskly  at  both  ends,  regarding  the  head  or  brain  as 
one  end,  and  the  limbs  or  the  locomotary  agents  as  the 
other,  but  it  should  not  burn  too  fast.”  It  may  be 
that  in  some  persons  an  extra  rate  at  one  end  is  com- 
pensated for  by  a lower  rate  at  the  other.  Some  per- 


28  TALKS  TJPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

sons,  at  least,  seem  to  find  that  severe  and  continued 
brain  work  is  incompatible  with  much  leg  work.  W e 
feel,  however,  directly  to  the  contrary. 

The  time  is  near  when  a knowledge  of  the  true 
science  of  living  will  be  considered  as  important  a 
part  of  our  education  as  a knowledge  of  addition.  It 
is  my  wish  that  these  few  words  may  lead  on  to  such 
an  end. 


EXERCISE. 


BY  MARION  HAELAND. 

Stagnation  is  death. 

. Action  is  life,  and  health,  and  growth. 

Upon  these  two  axioms  hangs  the  law  of  ex- 
ercise. The  most  robust  physique  relapses  into 
feebleness  if  left  to  inertness.  A feeble  physique 
may  be  made  robust  by  intelligent  and  continuous 
development  of  muscle  and  tissue. 

These  sound  like  didactic  truisms,  but  the  multi- 
plied line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept  of  human 
science  have  not  availed  to  make  them  a matter  of 
practical  belief  with  the  majority  of  American  women. 
The  studies  and  exercises  of  the  coliegegirl  in  the  gym- 
nasium and  the  “ physical  culture  ” fad  of  the  society 
woman  have  raised  a dust  between  the  eyes  of  many 
sensible  women  and  the  ugly  fact  that  the  woman 
of  average  education  and  provincial  environment 
regards  exertion  as  an  evil  and  inactivity  as  a boon. 
To  lie  upon  thasofa  all  day  reading  a novel  was,  as 
an  indiscreet  biographer  tells  us,  the  poet  Gray’s 
idea  of  heaven.  We  are  not  surprised  after  hearing 
it  to  read  further  that  he  died  dn  an  infirm  middle 
age.  We  may  be  permitted  to  express  disgust,  if  not 
surprise,  that  experience  and  the  teachings  of  learned 


29 


80  TALKS  TJPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

physiologists  have  not  made  our  countrywomen 
ashamed  of  cherishing  the  same  ideal. 

It  is  not  a month  since  I heard  the  wife  of  an  in- 
dustrious mechanic  say  to  an  acquaintance  of  a 
daughter  who  had  just  married  a rich  man  : — 

44  Thank  heaven,  she  can  just  sit  still  from  morn- 
ing to  night,  and  never  turn  a hand  unless  she  has  a 
mind  to  do  it  ! ” 

The  mother’s  tone  and  look  begot  a strong  sus- 
picion in  my  mind  that  the  lucky  young  matron 
would  improve  to  the  full  the  privileges  of  her 
changed  estate.  In  a few  years  she  will  probably 
read  her  title  clear  to  fine  ladyhood  by  employing  a 
masseuse  to  excite  sensibility  in  flaccid  muscles  and 
to  brace  prostrated  nerves.  Or,  she  will  be  regis- 
tered among  the  converts  to  the  Swedish  movement 
cure,  and  devote  one,  two,  or  three  hours  a day  to 
flexing  by  machinery  joints  that  should  have  been 
kept  supple  through  the  commonest  methods  pre- 
scribed by  Nature. 

For  one  American  woman  who  is  injured  by  doing 
the  housework  of  a family  of  ordinary  size,  fifty 
suffer  for  want  of  the  reasonable  amount  of  play  of 
brawn  and  sinew.  Our  typical  farmer’s  wife  breaks 
down  before  her  time,  not  because  she  leads  a stir- 
ring life,  but  because  the  stirring  is  not  according  to 
knowledge.  When  we  consider  that  for  one  girl  who 
goes  to  college  five  hundred  attend  day  schools  and 
lodge  in  their  own  homes,  and,  when  study-days  are 


EXERCISE. 


81 


over,  take  their  part  in  making  beds,  sweeping,  dust- 
ing, etc.,  it  is  strange  that  gymnasium  laws  and 
practice  are  not  so  much  as  hinted  at  to  this  great 
majority.  The  young  gymnast  has  her  loose  blouse, 
her  short  skirt,  and  her  easy  shoes,  and  is  prohibited 
from  violent  exertion  directly  after  a hearty  meal. 
Our  girl  at  home  — as  her  mother  has  done  all  her 
days — sweeps,  washes  dishes,  turns  mattresses,  shakes 
blankets  and  rugs,  and  lends  a brisk  hand  with  the 
house-cleaning,  arrayed  in  the  print  gown  she  put  on 
upon  leaving  her  bed  in  the  morning.  Beneath  the 
close  waist  she  wears  an  ill-fitting  corset  that  works 
up  over  the  lungs  with  every  lift  of  the  arms,  and, 
as  if  she  had  an  especial  spite  against  the  oppressed 
life-pump,  she  carefully  closes  the  windows  while 
plying  broom  and  duster  for  fear  of  draughts,  and 
to  keep  the  dust  (which  Tyndal’s  disciples  know  to 
be  “ disease 99 ) from  blowing  about  the  room.  As  for 
waiting  for  food  to  be  digested  before  plunging  into 
the  thick  of  the  forenoon’s  “ flying  around,”  the 
thought  is  as  foreign  as  that  of  the  dignity  of  the 
labor  put  upon  her  by  moderate  circumstances. 

Too  much  of  the  otherwise  excellent  advice  given 
by  specialists  to  the  woman  of  our  period  on  this 
subject  of  the  vital  necessity  of  exercise  and  the  way 
to  take  it  is  on  a par  with  the  prescription  of  “A 
season  at  Carlsbad ,”  left  by  a New  York  doctor 
brought  in  by  a benevolent  woman  to  see  a German 
washerwoman  confined  to  her  chair  by  rheumatism. 


32  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

The  right  formula  is  in  the  wrong  place.  A sick 
sinking  of  heart  falls  upon  the  anaemic  sufferer  who 
is  “ weak  all  over,”  yet  has  no  confirmed  disease,  in 
reading  of  the  benefits  of  the  Delsarte  method,  if 
properly  inculcated  and  followed  out,  and  what 
blessed  changes  are  wrought  by  daily  friction,  under 
skilled  hands,  of  the  whole  body.  She  knows  that 
regulation  “methods  ” and  electrical  massage  at  two 
or  five  dollars  an  hour  are  as  much  out  of  her  reach 
as  if  the  recommendation  were  a daily  bath  in  snow- 
water brought  from  the  moon  by  lunar  express.  If 
we  would  help  our  sisters,  we  must  take  them  as  — 
and  where  — we  find  them ; must  teach  them  to 
make  the  best  of  materials  laid  to  their  hands. 
Stubble  is  not  straw,  but  tolerable  bricks  have  been 
made  with  it. 

As  a starting-point,  let  me,  at  the  risk  of  drawing 
down  upon  my  head  the  censure  of  the  profession 
and  of  progressive  non-professionals,  declare  my 
belief  that  such  exercise  as  comes  in  the  usual  course 
of  the  every-day  round  of  domestic  tasks  in  an 
American  home  of  the  middle  class  will,  if  rightly 
managed,  bring  up  the  physical  system  to  as  fair  a 
degree  of  perfection  as  the  costly  “courses”  by 
which  specialists  are  seeking  to  improve  the  human 
stock.  Costume,  training  secundum  artem , and  the 
society  of  fellow-students  in  the  noble  art  of  self- 
improvement,  make  gymnasium  work  (for  it  is  work, 
approximating  labor),  more  dignified  than  the  “ com- 


EXERCISE. 


33 


mon  round  ” that  develops  exactly  the  same  set  of 
muscles  and  strengthens  the  same  vital  organs.  As 
an  obstinate  utilitarian,  I should  for  myself  enjoy 
sweeping,  bread-making,  and  other  branches  of  man- 
ual labor  that  fall  naturally  in  a woman’s  way,  such 
as  flower-gardening,  poultry-tending,  and  active 
supervision  of  a well-kept  house,  more  heartily 
than  swinging  dumb-bells  and  working  a meaning- 
less treadle  for  an  hour  at  a time,  first  with  one  foot, 
then  with  the  other,  or  tugging  at  intervals  of  fifteen 
minutes  at  a health-lift  until  the  prescribed  time  is 
up.  I was  beguiled  into  “ taking  ” the  health-lift 
once  for  a month,  and  at  the  end  of  the  course  con- 
fessed myself  to  have  been  greatly  profited  by  the 
mile-walk  to  and  from  the  building  in  which  the 
machine  was  kept.  The  process  of  the  lift  and 
the  intermediate  rest  upon  a lounge,  hands  folded,  and 
eyes  closed,  was  a bore  but  slightly  mitigated  by  a 
sense  of  the  absurdity  of  the  treatment  for  a woman 
with  her  hands  full  of  rational  engagements,  and 
nothing  the  matter  with  her  body  except  a slight 
touch  of  “ spring  fever.” 

Work  done  with  a settled  purpose  is  always  more 
satisfactory  to  the  worker  than  routine  for  routine’s 
sake.  The  exercise  that  accomplishes  something  we 
can  see  now  and  here  has  behind  it  moral  stimulus. 
A walk  to  the  post-office  where  one  hopes  to  find  an 
important  letter ; a ramble  in  March  of  two  miles  to 
the  hills  that  were  pink  with  trailing  arbutus  last 


34  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

spring,  or  in  autumn  along  the  lane  that  late  in  Sep- 
tember is  royally  fringed  with  blue  gentian ; a nut- 
ting frolic ; a wrestle  on  a stormy  afternoon  with 
winds  that  tear  up  and  down  the  streets  you  traverse 
on  your  way  to  take  a cup  of  tea  with  a friend, — one 
and  all,  accomplish  the  end  of  the  “constitutional” 
more  fully  than  measured  miles  paced  in  mechanical 
obedience  to  formal  regulations.  A walk  in  agree- 
able company  really  helps  the  body  — leaving  the 
spirit  out  of  the  question  — more  than  a solitary 
rush  over  the  same  distance  and  road. 

The  girl  who  should  so  far  rise  above  the  fusty 
traditions  of  the  housewife  as  to  wear  the  uniform  ,of 
the  gymnasium  while  sweeping  halls,  rooms,  and 
stairs,  and  cleaning  windows,  scrupulous,  all  the 
while,  to  have  abundance  of  fresh  air  to  fill  the  lungs 
and  redden  the  blood,  adds  to  physical  gain  the  con- 
sciousness of  a world  made  cleaner,  therefore,  health- 
ier, by  her  toil.  Furthermore  — and  to  this  no  true 
woman  should  be  indifferent  — she  brings  what  is 
wrongfully  considered  menial  occupation  up  to  her 
level, — the  level  of  quaint  old  Herbert  — so  much 
in  advance  of  his  generation  — and  his  divinely  com- 
forting philosophy  of  the  room  swept  “ as  for  God’s 
laws.”  . 

One  of  the  severest  lessons  in  peace-holding  ever 
appointed  unto  me  was  when  courtesy  compelled  me 
to  hearken  for  an  hour  to  an  eloquent  dissertation 
upon  the  ennobling  influence  of  the  Delsarte  system 


EXERCISE. 


35 

from  the  mistress  of  an  apartment  so  disorderly  and 
dirty  that  my  self-respect  suffered  from  sitting  in  it 
while  she  discoursed.  In  illustration  of  her  apostle’s 
teachings,  she  did  some  wonderful  things  with  mus- 
cles and  limbs  as  she  talked.  Every  feat  — as  my 
slender  knowledge  of  anatomical  principles  assured 
me  could  have  been  achieved  by  muscles  and  verte- 
brae trained  by  regular  practice  of  the  homely  arts  of 
bread-kneading,  bed-making,  sweeping  floors,  and 
brushing  down  walls,  together  with  much  walking 
along  country  roads. 

Bodily  exercise,  of  whatever  form,  profiteth  little 
unless  it  be  pursued  steadily.  Flexion  of  the  mus- 
cles, strenuously  insisted  upon  by  the  teachers  of 
gymnastics  and  callisthenics,  is  simply  keeping  thews 
and  sinews  supple  and  strong,  thus  making  them 
capable  of  sustaining  heavy  weights  and  long  strains. 
The  woman  who  leads  a sedentary  life  for  six  days, 
and  on  the  seventh  buckles  on  her  armor,  in  the 
shape  of  a “ walking-length  ” skirt  and  common- 
sense  boots,  for  a tramp  of  three  miles,  defeats  the 
end  of  her  undertaking  as  effectually  as  did  Byron 
when  he  tried  to  reduce  his  flesh  by  dieting  for  a 
month  upon  potatoes  drenched  with  vinegar,  then, 
driven  desperate  by  animal  hunger,  gorged  himself, 
anaconda-wise,  at  one  mighty  meal  of  fish,  flesh,  and 
fowl.  The  muscles  are  strained,  not  strengthened, 
by  violent  and  intermittent  exercise.  A quarter- 
mile  twice  a day  keeps  them  in  better  condition  than 


36  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

a four-mile  walk  taken  onee  a fortnight.  The 
earnest  pedestrian,  beginning  with  the  quarter  of  a 
mile,  will  find  that  she  can  gradually  extend  her 
beat  until  the  three  and  four  mile  stretch  can  he  com- 
passed without  fatigue. 

To  insure  regularity  in  this  duty  which  each  of  us 
owes  to  the  temple  of  her  body,  it  must  be  rated  at 
its  full  value,  i.  e.,  that  it  is  as  essential  to  health 
and  comfort  as  eating  and  sleeping.  The  formula, 

“ fresh  air  and  exercise,”  is  worth  more  in  main- 
taining the  physical  sanity  of  the  household  than 
all  the  drugs  in  the  pharmacopoeia,  and  it  is  grac- 
ing to  observe  the  increasing  prominence  given  to  it 
with  the  advance  of  medical  science.  The  best  that 
doctors  can  do  — the  wisest  of  them  being  judges 
is  to  assist  Nature.  The  best  that  each  inmate  of  a 
body  can  do  is  to  work  so  intelligently  with  Nature 
that  she  shall  not  require  repairing. 

Health  cannot  be  maintained  without  regular  ex- 
ercise and  plenty  of  it.  Having  dislodged  the 
heresy  that  action  is  an  evil,  engraft  upon  conscience 
the  tenet  that  inertia  is  never  a boon  except  as  it 
alternates  with  motion.  It  is  the  sleep  of  the  labor- 
ing man  which  is  sweet.  There  is  no  rest,  strictly 
speaking,  for  the  indolent.  The  bow  that  is  never 
bent  gets  no  good,  as  a bow,  from  straightening  out. 

A sensible  by-law  for  every  woman  m tolerable 
health  is  not  to  be  afraid  to  move.  It  is  laziness 
and  slovenly  laziness — to  tip  your  chair  sideways 


exercise: 


37 


and  “make  a long  arm”  to  reach  the  fallen  scissors 
or  spool ; to  quote  the  easy-going  wife’s  parrot-cry, 
“ You  are  UP  and  I am  down,”  to  excuse  yourself  for 
making  others  fetch  and  carry  because  you  are  com- 
fortably settled  with  work,  or  to  summon  a busy  ser- 
vant to  get  a book  from  the  next  room  or  your 
handkerchief  from  an  upper  chamber.  The  woman 
who  is. not  afraid  of  staircases  will  walk  fetter,  more 
lightly,  and  with  greater  ease  to  herself,  no  matter 
what  her  weight  may  be,  than  she  who,  without 
apology  of  physical  infirmity,  grumbles  if  everything 
needed  for  use  and  luxury  is  not  upon  one  floor  and 
within  reach. 

Having  an  errand  at  the  house  of  a country  seam- 
stress, one  bracing  autumn  day,  I found  her  running 
the  sewing-machine  in  a close  room.  “ The  air  blew 
things  about  so,  when  the  windows  were  open,”  and 
she  “guessed  that  she  must  be  thin-blooded,  she 
was  so  chilly  most  days.”  She  was  sallow,  stoop- 
shouldered, and  flat-chested,  although  she  declared 
herself  to  be  in  good  health  — “ if  it  wasn’t  for  ner- 
vous headaches.” 

“All  sewing-women  suffer  with  them,”  she  said 
patiently.  “If  it  wasn’t  for  my  tea,  — good,  green 
tea,  hot  and  real  strong,  — three  and  four  times  a day, 
seems  if  I’d  die  sometimes,  the  pain  is  that  bad  ! ” 

I had  a packet  of  letters  in  my  hand,  and  as  I was 
leaving,  the  sight  suggested  a startling  thought  to 
her : — 


88 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS, 

u You’re  never  going  to  walk  all  the  way  to  the 
post-office  to  mail  them?  Why,  it  s a mile,  at  least! 

And  when  assured  that  the  mile  and  back  was 
but  a trifle  in  my  estimation : — 

“Think  of  that,  now!  When  I’ve  lived  here 
live  years,  and  never  thought  of  going  to  the  office 
a-foot ! I should  be  laid  up  for  a week. 

A run,  or  even  a saunter  of  half  the  distance  every 
day,  would  have  gone  further  toward  routing  the 
sewing-woman’s  familiar  demon  than  the  gallons  of 
stewed  tea  poured  into  the  outraged  stomach  and, 
conveyed  by  reluctant  nerves  and  veins  throughout 
her  thin  body.  Such  living  is  a continual  borrowing 
from  to-morrow,  and  pay-day  must  come  soon  or 
late,  usually  soon.  Sedentary  habits  sap  the 
springs  of  vitality  more  insidiously  and  almost  as 
surely  as  liquor  and  opium.  For,  while  our  talk  up 
to  this  point  has  been  of  the  benefit  received  by  the 
muscular  system  from  exercise,  the  gain  of  nerve, 
blood,  lungs,  heart,  and,  most  of  all,  the  diges- 
tive organs,— cannot  be  exaggerated.  The  mysteri- 
ous good  we  name  44  tone  ” comes  to  the  body  44  to 
stay”  through  no  other  channel.  The  effect  of  tonic 
and  stimulant  is  evanescent  and  uncertain.  Brisk 
motion,  demanding  the  co-operation  of  the  whole 
body  from  brain  to  toe,  wakes  up  the  forces  all  along 
the  line.  The  lungs  expand  to  take  in  more  air,  and 
expel  it  the  more  freely  for  the  settling  into  normal 
position  of  stomach  and  bowels. 


EXERCISE. 


89 


An  outspoken  French  master  used  to  tell  his 
classes  that  “ the  American  school-girl  sits  upon  Ur 

dyspepsia”^  ^ ^ ^ “ conseduen<*,  has 

The  blood  is  pumped  more  strongly  through  the 
vems;  the  channels  to  and  from  the  brain  are 
cleared  by  the  steady  play  of  the  life-giving  current; 
spleen  and  liver  are  aroused  from  torpor  with  results 
that  have  to  do  with  the  preservation  of  health 
reason,  and  life  itself. 

Beauty,  as  a permanent  possession,  must  co-exist 
with  exercise  of  the  right  sort,  taken  conscientiously, 
the  day  of  willowy  shapes  and  Parian  marble  brows 
has  gone  by  so  long  ago  that  even  the  country  belle  ' 
aughs  at  stories  of  her  great-grandaunt’s  efforts  to 
preserve  the  good  looks  that  made  her  the  belle  of 
the  township.  How  she  champed  slate-pencils  and 
chalk  to  keep  from  growing  vulgarly  rosy,  and  ate 
pickles  by  the  pound  to  reduce  flesh,  and  slept  in  ‘ 
g oves,  and  wore  on  summer  nights  a tansy  poultice 
to  eradicate  freckles,  and  never  walked  if  she  could 
elp  it,  for  fear  of  enlarging  her  pretty  feet.  That 
was  the  era  of  corset-lacing  against  the  ends  bound 
to  the  bedpost,  because  no  maid  had  the  finger- 
power  to  draw  the  strings  hard  enough  to  satisfy  the 
wasp-waisted  mistress  ; when  eating  was  an  unre- 
fined  performance  for  lovely  woman,”  who  wore 
tight,  high-heeled  shoes,  and  bound  her  girdle  a 
measured  finger’s  length  below  the  armpits  and 


40  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

right  across  the  lungs.  It  was  the  “good  old 
times  ” of  low-necked  gowns,  and  short  sleeves,  and 
no  flannels,  and  no  underskirts  (to  speak  of),  and 
alabaster  complexions,  and  weekly  bleedings,  and 
oft-practised  hysterical  arts,  and  much  reclining  upon 
-sofas,  and  floods  of  tears  flowing  as  softly  as  sweet 
Afton,  that  had  all  seasons  for  their  own,  and  so 
many  other  obsolete  horrors  — among  them  an  average 
of  but  thirty  years  of  mortal  existence  that  we 
shake  ourselves  loose  from  the  enumeration  as  from 
a nightmare,  with  a shuddering,  “We  beseech  Thee 

to  spare  us,  good  Lord!  ” 

The  maiden  of  that  period  aimed  to  grow  like  the 
lily,  with  never  a thought  of  the  swaying  m the 
breeze,  the  rocking  in  the  gale,  the  shower-baths,  and 
sun-soakings,  and  the  open  air  living  that  wrought 
the  pale,  proud  princess  of  the  garden  into  pure  and 
stately  bloom.  A potato  shoot  in  a oin  would  have 
been  a fitter  type  of  the  fine  lady  of  1795.  It  is 
cause  for  national  thanksgiving  that  we  have  broken 
asunder  the  bands  and  cast  away  from  us  the  cords 
of  the  fashion  of  that  time  of  ignorance. 

Every  variety  of  exercise  that  calls  into  healthfu 
activity  the  various  members  and  organs  of  the  body 
has  its  value.  It  should  go  without  saying  that  the 
business  of  the  gymnasium,  however  scientifica  y 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  .physical  system,  under- 
ranks motion  in  the  free  air  of  heaven  that  needs  no 
artificial  changing  at  stated  intervals. 


EXERCISE. 


41 


Perhaps  horseback  riding  stands  next  to  walking 
among  the  forms  of  outdoor  exercise.  Nathaniel 
Parker  Willis,  who  held  consumption  at  bay  for 
twenty  years  by  almost  living  in  the  saddle,  main- 
tained that  walking  causes  the  muscles  and  soft  parts 
of  the  body  to  sag,  while  the  equestrian  constitutional 
upbears  important  organs  and  gives  liberty  to  the 
muscles  by  supporting  the  dragging  weight ; in  short, 
that  the  saddle  “ set  him  up.”  Other  elements  of 
gratification  beyond  those  that  attend  exercise  on 
foot  enter  into  the  enjoyment  of  a ride  upon  a well- 
gaited  horse.  The  human  love  of  mastery  over  the 
inferior  creation,  the  affectionate  sympathy  quickly 
established  between  the  rider  and  the  intelligent 
steed,  the  rapid  sweep  through  the  air,  the  wider  out- 
look from  the  height  where  he  sits  enthroned,  con- 
tribute to  make  this  method  of  locomotion  one  of  the 
most  delightful  as  well  as  beneficent  known  to  man 
or  woman. 

Still,  as  every  old  woman  knows,  and  every  girl 
ought  to  be  _ told,  some  maladies  peculiar  to  her  sex 
are  developed  from  incipiency  into  activity  by  riding, 
particularly  upon  a trotting  horse.  Years  of  invalid- 
ism may  follow  indulgence  in  the  graceful  exercise 
at  seasons  when  common  prudence  would  forbid  this 
form  of  exertion.  The  women  whom  we  meet  in 
our  city  parks  and  suburban  roads,  rising  to  the 
fulling-mill  trot  of  44  high  steppers,”  remind  me 
ludicrously  of  the  dubious  encomium  passed  by  a 


42  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

rustic  upon  a badly  ballasted  railway.  He  said, 
“ The  cars  could  bounce  higher  and  ’light  truer  than 
any  others  he  had  ever  travelled  upon.”  The  lofty 
bounce  and  true  return  to  the  saddle  of  our  dashing 
girl  equestrian  involve  an  inevitable  jolt,  depending 
in  violence  upon  the  skill  acquired  by  frequent  prac- 
tice. Even  an  agile  and  fearless  rider  must  be  well 
put  together  to  endure  unharmed  ten  miles  of  such 
thuds  and  rebounds. 

The  fin  de  siecle  girl  and  her  bicycle  have  hardly 
been  acquainted  long  enough  for  the  passage  of 
correct  judgment  upon  the  consequence  of  the 
intimacy.  If  her  frame  be  firmly  knit,  and  the  bal- 
ance of  her  marvellous  and  exquisite  tripartite 
organization  be  perfect,  there  is  little  danger,  and 
there  may  be  decided  good  in  “ wheel-work.”  From 
the  imperfect  statistics  collected  on  the  subject,  it  is 
apparent  that  a girl  who  has  “ a weak  back  ” or  the 
remotest  tendency  to  hip-disease  should  not  ride  a 
bicycle.  In  like  circumstances,  horseback  exercise 
should  be  practised  in  moderation  and  under  medical 
advice. 

Driving  is  the  mildest  variation  of  what  Americans 
persist  in  including  in  the  division  of  “ riding.” 
Foreigners  ridicule  a classification  which,  from  their 
standpoint,  would  seem  to  be  all  margin.  The  solid 
fact  remains  that  an  engineer  and  a wheel  do  the 
driving  of  a railway  train,  while  the  passengers 
ride ; also,  that  in  a carriage  he  who  holds  the  reins 


EXERCISE.  43 

drives,  and  those  who  occupy  the  vehicle  with  him 
ride. 

So,  for  our  present  use,  driving  means  handling 
ribbons  and  whip.  If  the  horses  are  spirited,  the 
employment  exercises  arms  and  chest,  besides  pulling 
hard  upon  the  back.  If  the  animal  in  harness  be  the 
advertised  “lady’s  horse,”  the  expenditure  of  strength 
is  reduced  to  a minimum.  To  the  passive  occupants 
of  the  chariot  or  rockaway,  there  is  no  question  of 
exercise  other  than  could  be  had  in  a rocking-chair 
upon  a breezy  veranda.  They  are  merely  enjoying 
an  airing. 

Yet  the  modern  society  dame  poultices  her  con- 
science by  making  a matter  of  physical  duty  of  her 
daily  drive  in  park  and  boulevard.  To  secure  it 
requires  thought  and  management.  Mary  in  the 
mill  is  not  more  a slave  to  the  requirements  of  her 
position  than  Marie  in  the  maelstrom  of  fashionable 
life.  It  is  through  an  economic  instinct  that  she 
sets  aside  two  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  for  exer- 
cising her  horses  and  (as  she  fancies)  her  jaded  self. 
The  same  sense  of  what  she  owes  to  her  physique 
induces  her  to  add  to  the  list  of  her  engagements  so 
many  hours  of  each  week  spent  under  the  manipula- 
tion of  the  electrical  masseuse . Benjamin  Franklin 
was  an  American  of  the  Americans  when  he  begged 
to  have  grace  said  over  the  whole  barrel.  Our 
women  would  dispose  of  the  obligation  to  keep  the 
works  of  their  undervalued  bodies  after  the  same 


44  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

fashion.  But  with  the  best  will  in  the  world,  and 
under  the  stimulus  of  the  highest  price,  no  profes- 
sional “ rubber  ” and  no  “ movement  cure  ” run  by 
steam  and  charged  with  electricity  can  wind  us  up 
and  keep  us  going  for  the  term  of  years  the  rankest 
v pessimist  of  us  all  would  like  to  spend  upon  this 
terrestrial  ball. 

In  the  first  manual  of  practical  housewifery  I had 
the  honor  of  offering  to  my  countrywomen,  I laid 
down  as  a stringent  rule,  “ Never  stand  when  you 
can  do  your  work  as  well  while  sitting.” 

Not  the  least  trying  accompaniment  of  our  society 
woman’s  duties  is  the  enforced  standing  at  ball  or 
crush  for  an  entire  evening.  The  cruel  pull  upon 
the  muscles  and  the  growing  weight  of  organs, 
relaxing  wearily  as  the  minutes  drag  by,  are  torture 
that  works  disaster  even  upon  a strong  frame.  To 
the  weak,  the  risk  is  so  serious  that  even  the  fiat  of 
high-handed  fashion  does  not  excuse  the  daring  (or 
moral  cowardice)  that  takes  it. 

To  recapitulate  briefly  the  rules  governing  this 
important  subject : — 

Exercise  is  a duty  and  should  be  a pleasure. 
Since  muscular  growth  and  firmness  depend  upon  it, 
nothing  is  a valid  substitute  for  exercise  of  some 
sort. 

Moderate  exercise,  taken  daily,  is  better  than 
violent  and  spasmodic. 

The  best  results  of  exercise  are  secured  through 


EXERCISE. 


45 


some  kind  of  occupation,  but  special  forms  may  sup- 
plement the  lack  of  stated  employment.  She  who 
has  no  call  to  do  housework  must  make  occasions 
to  develop  those  parts  of  the  body  which  housework 
would  keep  in  normal  working  condition. 

Rubbing,  massage,  health -lifts,  Swedish  movement 
cures,  and  other  artificial  means  of  strengthening 
and  stimulating  the  system,  while  valuable  to  in- 
valids, are  but  a poor  substitute  for  exercise  to 
people  of  tolerably  good  health. 

An  extraordinary  degree  of  determination  and 
perseverance  is  requisite  for  the  rich  woman  who 
tries  to  fill  a place  in  the  gay  world  and  also  to 
keep  up  the  standard  of  physical  sanity  by  active 
exercise,  without  which  health  is  impossible.  Each 
of  us  goes  into  the  campaign  of  life  at  her  own 
charges.  Personal  care  of  the  temple  of  the  body  is 
as  needful  as  that  each  individual  should  breathe  for 
herself. 

Standing  is,  in  no  sense  and  by  no  possible  perver- 
sion of  the  word,  exercise.  On  the  contrary,  it 
defeats  the  purpose  of  activity. 

Exercise,  then,  to  be  wholly  beneficial,  must  be 
“ all  around.”  That  is,  of  a kind  that  will  bring  the 
whole  system  of  muscles,  nerves,  veins,  and  arteries 
into  healthful  play.  That  which  brings  about  an 
unnatural  enlargement  of  one  set  of  organs  to  the 
neglect  of  the  rest  encourages  deformity  instead  of 
the  symmetrical  growth  which  is  always  true  beauty. 


THE  NERVES. 


BY  LUCIEN  C.  WARNER,  M.  D. 

THE  nerves  of  the  body  are  the  medium  through 
which  the  mind  receives  all  impressions  of 
external  objects,  and  also  through  which  it 
directs  all  bodily  activity.  Every  sensation,  whether 
of  joy  or  sorrow,  pleasure  or  pain,  comes  to  us  through 
the  nervous  system.  It  is  thus  that  we  recognize 
cold  and  heat,  sound  and  silence,  sunshine  and 
shadow,  light  and  darkness. 

The  center  of  the  nervous  system  is  the  brain  and 
spinal  column.  It  is  through  the  brain. that  the  mind 
acts  in  all  its  varied  and  wonderful  manifestations. 
The  whole  physical  system  is  directly  connected  with 
the  brain  by  means  of  the  nerves  which  run  like  little 
cords  to  every  part  of  the  body.  These  nerves  ter- 
minate in  the  skin  and  muscles,  where  they  act  as 
the  sentinels  stationed  at  the  outposts  to  keep  us  in- 
formed of  the  conditions  which  surround  us.  But 
these  sentinels  have  a double  duty  to  perform  ; they 
not  only  bring  to  the  mind  information,  but  they 
carry  back  to  the  muscles  orders  for  motion.  A 
simple  illustration  will  explain  this  action.  If  you 
put  your  hand  in  the  fire,  instantly  the  nerves  carry 
to  the  brain  the  sensation  of  pain;  as  quick  as> 


46 


THE  NERVES. 


47 


thought  the  brain  sends  back  word  to  the  hand  to  get 
out  of  the  way.  Thus  we  see  that  the  nerves  act 
like  telegraph  wires  to  connect  the  brain  with  every 
part  of  the  body;  but,  unlike  the  telegraph  wires, 
there  is  a double  system  of  nerves,  each  with  a dis- 
tinct function ; one  the  nerves  of  sensation,  and  the 
other  the  nerves  of  motion. 

There  are  some  nerves  of  motion  that  are  not 
under  the  control  of  the  mind,  like  the  great-pneu- 
mogastric  nerve,  which  runs  from  the  brain  to  the 
throat,  stomach,  lungs,  heart,  and  liver.  These  are 
organs  whose  activity  is  essential  to  life*  and  hence 
they  are  made  independent  of  our  control.  They  go 
on  with  their  work  while  we  are  asleep  the  same  as 
while  we  are  awake,  and  never  cease  their  activity 
until  life  itself  is  extinct. 

The  impressions  which  we  receive  from  the  special 
senses  are  brought  to  us  through  the  nervous  system. 
The  sweet  odor  of  the  flowers,  the  delicious  flavor  of 
food,  the  beauty  of  form  and  color,  the  murmur  of 
the  ocean  waves,  the  song  of  the  birds,  the  sweet 
notes  of  the  singer,  and  the  ravishing  harmony  of  the 
orchestra  are  recognized  through  the  medium  of 
the  nerves.  These  nerves  are  susceptible  of  culti- 
vation from  education  and  close  observation.  The 
hunter  recognizes  sounds  in  the  forest  which  are 
indistinguishable  to  other  people.  The  blind  develop 
the  sense  of  both  hearing  and  touch  to  a remarkable 
degree.  The  study  of  music  cultivates  an  appreci- 


48 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


ation  of  harmony  and  discord,  which  is  not  recognized 
by  the  ordinary  hearer.  The  study  of  drawing  and 
painting  cultivates  the  love  and  appreciation  of  the 
beautiful,  both"  in  art  and  nature.  The  whole  ten- 

acuteness  of  the  nervous  system.  This  brings  greater 
capacity  for  enjoyment,  but  also  greater  capacity  for 
pain.  If  the  ear  is  trained  to  fine  music,  poor  music 
and  discords  are  a positive  offence.  The  eye  trained 
to  appreciate  the  beautiful  in  art  is  pained  by  that 
which  is  crude  and  inharmonious.  This  principle 
holds  true*  in  every  condition  that  surrounds  us. 
Persons  with  delicate,  sensitive  nerves  feel  every 
discord  of  life,  and  are  more  likely  to  suffer  from 
surroundings  that  are  not  in  every  way  congenial  and 
pleasant.  The  highly  wrought  nervous  system  is 
like  a delicate  piece  of  machinery,  which  works 
beautifully  when  the  conditions  are  all  favorable,  but 
is  frail  and  easily  gets  out  of  repair. 

Good  health  requires  that  there  should  be  a proper 
equilibrium  between  the  nervous  system  and  the 
physical  system,  between  the  body  and  the  mind. 
Hence,  diseases  of  other  parts  of  the  body  often 
cause  derangement  of  the  nervous  system.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  dyspepsia  and  other  diseases  of 
the  digestive  organs,  owing  to  their  very  close  con- 
nection with  the  brain.  A dyspeptic  is  almost 
always  nervous  and  irritable.  The  same  thing  is 
also  true  of  diseases  of  the  reproductive  organs ; in 


dency  of  education  is  to  increase  the  activity  and 


THE  NERVES. 


49 


fact,  nervous  symptoms  are  often  more  prominent 
than  any  symptoms  of  the  local  disease.  In  all  cases 
where  nervous  trouble  is  consequent  upon  the  disease 
of  some  other  part  of  the  body,  relief  must  be  sought 
in  treatment  of  the  special  disease  which  is  the  cause 
of  the  trouble.  If  this  is  cured,  great  improvement 
may  be  expected  in  the  nervous  symptoms,  although 
often  these  are  the  last  to  disappear. 

Nervous  diseases  are  frequently  the  result  of 
heredity.  “ Like  parents  like  child  ” is  a proverb  of 
almost  universal  ^application.  Where  one  or  both 
parents  possess  a highly  nervous  temperament  the 
children  are  very  likely  to  inherit  the  same  tendency. 
In  such  cases  special  pains  should  be  taken  to  main- 
tain the  health  and  develop  the  physical  system  of 
the  child,  while  the  mental  training  should  be  re- 
tarded rather  than  pushed  forward.  Such  children 
usually  have  very  bright  minds  and  learn  easily,  so 
that  they  can  quickly  overtake  their  companions  of 
the  same  age,  even  if  they  are  not  sent  to  school  early. 

In  our  artificial  and  highly  cultivated  society  very 
many  cases  of  nervous  exhaustion  are  caused  by  ex- 
cessive mental  and  nervous  activity,  especially  when 
this  is  accompanied  by  lack  of  physical  exercise. 
The  tendency  of  education,  refinement,  and  luxury  is 
to  develop  the  nervous  system  at  the  expense  of  the 
physical.  Many  girls  break  down  in  school  by  too 
close  application  to  their  studies.  They  are  ambi- 
tious to  be  first  in  their  classes,  and  they  sacrifice  in 


50 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


extra  preparation  for  the  classroom  the  hours  that 
should  be  devoted  to  recreation  and  exercise.  The 
result  is  a nervous  collapse  which  compels  an  aban- 
donment of  study  or  its  suspension  for  several  months. 
To  the  student  and  to  all  persons  engaged  in  literary 
pursuits  the  hours  of  recreation  should  be  just  as 
sacred  as  the  hours  of  study.  If  either  is  to  be 
sacrificed,  let  it  be  the  intellectual  work,  for  that  will 
only  mean  a little  lower  standard  of  scholarship,  but 
to  sacrifice  exercise  and  recreation  may  mean  ruined 
health,  with  all  its  attendant  evils* 

But  the  schoolgirl  and  the  literary  woman  are  not 
the  only  ones  who  are  in  danger  of  breaking  down 
from  too  much  drain  upon  the  nervous  forces.  The 
woman  of  society  often  works  harder,  mentally  and 
nervously,  than  the  most  studious  scholar.  Enter- 
taining company  is  more  exhausting  than  any  college 
study  or  literary  work,  and  many  a society  woman 
spends  a day  in  bed  with  headache  after  every  recep- 
tion she  gives.  Brilliancy  in  conversation  requires 
great  activity  of  the  mind,  and  I have  usually  observed 
that  brilliant  talkers  and  wits  have  frequent  seasons 
of  great  depression.  Thus  it  happens  that  many  of 
those  who  are  brilliant  in  society  keep  very  little  of 
that  brilliancy  for  their  own  household. 

Almost  the  whole  life  of  the  society  woman  is  a 
drain  upon  the  nervous  system.  In  the  morning 
there  are  letters  to  write,  and,  if  she  be  engaged  in 
benevolent  work,  committees  to  attend.  In  the 


THE  NERVES. 


51 


\ 


afternoon  there  are  calls  to  make  and  shopping  to 
attend  to.  In  the  evening  there  is  the  formal  dinner 
party,  the  theatre,  the  opera,  or  the  concert.  This  is 
not  for  a day,  but  for  successive  weeks.  Engage- 
ments crowd  so  upon  each  other  that  it  is  an  added 
burden  to  determine  which  to  accept  and  which  to 
refuse.  With  all  of  this  there  is  scarcely  any  physi- 
cal exercise  to  give  the  body  proper  tone  and  strength. 
The  labor  of  the  household  is  done  by  the  servants. 
Walking  becomes  a lost  art,  and  the  carriage  takes 
its  place  whenever  she  leaves  the  house. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  under  such  conditions,  that  the 
nervous  system  breaks  down,  that  headache  is  almost 
a daily^  companion,  and  that  the  nights  give  but 
little  sleep  to  refresh  the  body  and  mind  for  the 
labors  of  the  day?  This  condition,  which  is  called 
nervousness,  should  be  called  nervelessness.  It  indi- 
cates, not  strength,  but  weakness  of  the  nervous 
system.  The  nerves  no  longer  control  the  body, 
but  are  themselves  controlled  by  every  external  im- 
pression. They  are  like  a steersman  who  has  lost 
control  of  his  ship.  It  goes  hither  and  thither 
wherever  the  winds,  the  waves,  and  the  currents 
drive  it. 

Nervous  exhaustion  is  more  common  among  the 
women  of  America  than  among  those  of  any  other 
country.  The  reason  of  this  may  be  in  part  due  to 
climate  and  temperament,  but  the  malady  is,  I believe, 
chiefly  due  to  the  more  intense  lives  of  Americans,  and 


u,  OF  ILL  LIB. 


52  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

to  the  general  lack  of  physical  exercise  among  o.ur 
women.  It  is  characteristic  of  Americans  to  do 
nothing  by  halves,  but  whatever  they  undertake  they 
do  with  all  their  might.  There  is  very  little  repose 
in  our  natures,  but  we  are  ever  on  the  alert,  seeking 
for  something  to  keep  our  minds  active. 

Grief  is  a more  serious  tax  upon  the  nervous  sys- 
tem than  pleasure,  and  more  often  leads  to  nervous 
exhaustion.  In  cases  of  bereavement  the  nervous 
system  is  sometimes  so  prostrated  that  many  weeks 
of  rest  and  change  of  scene  are  needed  to  restore  the 
ordinary  equilibrium  of  the  body  so  that  one  can 
take  up  the  regular  duties  of  life.  A somewhat 
similar  effect  is  produced  by  the  habit  of  borrowing 
trouble.  Many  persons  keep  themselves  in  a con- 
tinuous state  of  excitement  and  unrest  over  troubles 
which  have  no  existence  except  in  their  over-wrought 
imaginations. 

The  cure  for  nervous  prostration  is  to  be  found, 
not  in  stimulants  which  would  spur  the  exhausted 
nerves  on  to  further  activity,  not  in  narcotics  which 
would  dull  the  aching  head  and  compel  sleep,  but 
in  entire  change  in  the  habits,  of  life.  There  are 
limitations  to  human  endurance  which  cannot  be 
disregarded  with  impunity.  When  these  limits  are 
passed  nature  hangs  out  signals  of  distress.  If  we 
heed  the  signal  we  are  safe,  but  if  we  ignore  it  we 
soon  run  upon  rocks  and  quicksands  from  which" 
there  is  no  escape. 


THE  NERVES. 


53 


First  in  importance  among  the  remedies  for  pre- 
venting or  curing  nervous  diseases  is  physical  ex- 
ercise. Deficient  exercise  is  almost  universal  among 
American  women.  The  girl  does  not  get  one  half 
the  exercise  demanded  of  the  boy,  but  is  early  taught 
to  devote  to  fancy  work  the  time  which  the  boy 
spends  in  out-of-door  sports.  There  has  been  a 
great  revival  of  many  sports  among  the  young  men  of 
America,  until  we  now  nearly  approach  the  English 
in  out-of-door  exercise,  but  this  revival  has  but 
slightly  reached  the  young  women  of  our  land.  A 
few  play  tennis,  practise  archery,  ride  on  horseback,  or 
use  the  bicycle,  but  the  greater  proportion  still  limit 
their  exercise  to  a ride  in  an  easy  carriage  or  a walk 
of  half  a* mile. 

Good  physical  constitutions  and  strong  nervous 
systems  can  never  be  built  up  in  this  way.  Women, 
to  be  healthy,  must  have  regular  exercise.  Those 
who  do  their  own  housework  are  as  a class  more 
healthy  than  those  who  keep  servants.  Among  the 
peasant  women  of  Europe  who  work  in  the  fields 
with  the  men,  nervous  diseases  are  practically  un- 
known. We  rejoice  that  the  greater  prosperity  of 
America  does  not  require  this  drudgery  of  our 
women,  but  they  need  to  get  its  equivalent  in  out- 
of-door  exercise,  if  they  would  retain  that  strength 
of  body  and  nervous  system  which  is  essential  to 
the  full  enjoyment  of  life. 

I need  hardly  say  that  women  not  accustomed  to 


54  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

exercise  should  begin  with  great  care.  Violent  ex- 
ercise at  first  might  do  great  injury,  but  by  com- 
mencing moderately  and  increasing  the  amount  day 
by  day  as  the  strength  increases,  in  a little  time  a 
walk  of  two  or  three  miles,  or  a horseback  ride  of 
an  hour  can  be  taken  each  day  without  marked 
fatigue. 

The  medicines  to  be  used  in  cases  of  nervous 
exhaustion  are  usually  of  secondary  importance  to 
the  hygienic  remedies  which  I have  indicated,  and 
these  remedies  should  only  be  used  under  the  direc- 
tion of  an  intelligent  and  careful  physician.  The 
nervous  trouble  may  be  in  part  dependent  upon  con- 
stipation, indigestion,  or  some  other  form  of  internal 
disease,  and  if  so  the  physician  will  direct  Ms  treat- 
ment to  these  special  organs.  Great  caution  should 
always  be  exercised  in  using  remedies  to  act  directly 
upon  the  nervous  system,  especially  such  as  are 
designed  to  produce  sleep  or  allay  pain.  No  amount 
of  temporary  relief  can  compensate  a person  for  the 
mental  and  physical  degradation  of  the  opium,  the 
chloral,  or  the  cocaine  habit.  There  are  emergencies 
when  these  remedies  may  properly  be  used  for  a very 
few  days,  but  the  physician  who  prescribes  any  of 
these  drugs  to  be  taken  for  several  successive  weeks 
does  so  at  great  risk  of  fastening  upon  his  patient 
a habit  from  which  he  cannot  break  away. 

The  same  is,  in  a measure,  true  as  to  the  use  of 
stimulants.  Persons  who  are  in  a weak  physical 


THE  NERVES. 


55 


condition  as  a result  of  old  age,  acute  disease,  or 
prolonged  sickness,  often  derive  great  benefit  from 
the  temporary  use  of  stimulants,  but  the  person  who 
uses  wine  or  liquor  to  stimulate  his  nervous  system 
to  greater  activity,  or  to  deaden  the  sensibilities  of 
grief  *or  pain,  is  in  imminent  danger  of  contracting  a 
habit  which  will  afterwards  enslave  him. 

There  are,  however,  a few  remedies  which  can  be 
used  to  give  relief  to  those  nervously  exhausted  that 
are  not  liable  to  the  danger  attending  opium,  cocaine, 
or  chloral.  The  most  useful  of  these  are  perhaps  the 
bromides,  citrate  of  caffeine,  and  the  coal-oil  pro- 
ducts, like  phenacetine,  antipyrine,  and  antifebrine. 
These  will  often  bring  quiet  and  repose  to  the  excited, 
over-wrought  nervous  system,  and  they  can  be  used 
without  the  danger  of  forming  habits  which  cannot 
be  broken  off.  The  coal-oil  products  should,  how- 
ever, be  used  with  caution,  as  their  tendency  is  to 
weaken  the  action  of  the  heart.  One  preparation 
made  of  a combination  of  bromide,  citrate  of  caffeine* 
and  acetanilid  has  proved  so  valuable  in  the  relief 
of  nervous  headache  that  it  is  put  up  under  the  name 
of  “Migrain”  (headache  pills).  The  formula  is  as 
follows : 

Acetanilid  . . . 2 grains. 

Camphor  mono-bromated  . . . . . .1-2  „ 

Citrate  of  caffeine 1-2  „ 

Dose : one  every  hour  until  relieved,  or  until  fou7' 


56  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

are  taken.  It  will  not  relieve  all  cases  of  nervous 
headache,  but  will  relieve  a larger  proportion  of  cases 
than  any  other  remedy  I have  ever  known. 

Such  remedies  must  be  looked  upon  only  as  palli- 
ative, not  as  curative.  The  cure  must  come  by 
improving  the  general  health  and  by  better  attention 
to  the  laws  of  hygiene.  Many  of  our  so-called 
diseases  are  only  kindly  warnings  that  Nature  is  over- 
worked, and  we  must  call  a halt  for  repairs,  or  the 
damage  will  soon  be  beyond  remedy.  If  we  could 
keep  our  bodies  in  good  physical  condition  and  not 
draw  on  our  nervous  system  for  activity  beyond  its 
capacity,  nervous  diseases  would  be  unknown. 
Those  who  have  inherited  a highly  organized  nervous 
system,  and  those  who  by  past  habits  or  disease  have 
acquired  this  condition,  must  realize  the  constant 
temptation  to  overwork,  and  must  hold  their  powers 
in  reserve  if  they  would  escape  the  penalty  which 
Nature  is  ever  ready  to  inflict  for  the  transgression 
of  her  laws. 


CONSTIPATION. 


BY  LOUISE  FISKE  BRYSON,  M.  D. 

CONSTIPATION : its  causes,  results,  and  treat- 
ment. 

Constipation  is  the  commonest  disorder  the 
physician  is  called  upon  to  treat.  The  causes  are 
many.  It  may  be  the  symptom  of  serious  disease, 
or  merely  the  result  of  carelessness  and  ignorance. 
Arising  sometimes  from  a narrowing  of  the  intestine 
due  to  previous  illness,  it  may  also  have  its  origin  in 
some  unequal  action  of  the  muscular  coat  of  the 
intestinal  tract.  Depressing  mental  states  will  also 
induce  it.  Idleness,  sloth,  over-eating,  excessive 
tea-drinking,  insufficient  food,  foul  air,  excesses  in 
the  use  of  alcohol  and  tobacco,  defective  ventilation, 
and  overheated  rooms  are  influential  in  its  produc- 
tion. Swallowed  stones  and  seeds  of  fruits,  as  those 
of  cherries,  plums,  grapes,  and  certain  berries,  the 
husks  of  corn  and  oats,  and  such  foreign  substances 
as  stick  cinnamon,  sawdust,  sand,  clay,  and  bits  of 
slate-pencil  will  sometimes  cause  acute  or  chronic 
constipation  with  serious  symptoms.  Sedentary  pur- 
suits and  constrained  positions  favor  it.  Writers, 
journalists,  teachers,  clerks,  and  seamstresses  are 
especially  subject  to  this  disorder.  Intellectual  labor 

57 

© 


58  TALKS  TJPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

entails  muscular  inactivity.  It  diverts  energy  to  the 
nerve-centers,  and  causes  constipation  as  well  as 
indigestion.  The  habit  of  hurry  incident  to  over- 
work is  also  a cause.  Imperfect  mastication  of  food, 
tight  lacing,  the  action  of  certain  metals  (as  lead), 
the  presence  of  obesity,  and  various  unnatural  condi- 
tions of  the  digestive  apparatus  are  also  some  of  the 
many  influences  that  favor  it. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  factor  of  all  is 
the  American  habit  of  taking  medicine.  In  case  of 
indisposition,  the  first  question  in  this  country  is  : 
“ What  shall  I take  ? ” “ What  shall  I do  ? ” is  left 

unasked.  A superstition  prevails  that  whenever  the 
bowels  do  not  move  for  a day  or  so,  a cathartic  is 
needed  to  remove  from  the  system  morbid  material 
that  would  otherwise  induce  disease.  Nothing  could 
be  more  erroneous,  if  the  person  is  healthy  in  other  re- 
spects. The  evils  of  constipation  are  great,  but  not  so 
great  as  the  evils  of  dosing.  The  cathartic  habit  exists 
as  surely  as  the  cocaine  habit  or  the  morphine  habit. 
At  first  the  harm  arising  from  this  practice  is  not  ap- 
parent. In  time,  however,  the  intestinal  and  rectal 
muscles  come  to  need  some  artificial  stimulation  in 
order  to  work  at  all,  the  forced  activity  caused  by 
drugs  having  weakened  their  contractile  power.  The 
very  condition  for  which  such  remedies  are  employed 
is  thus  intensified  and  rendered  more  difficult  of 
cure.  Tight  lacing,  imperfect  ventilation,  cherry  pits, 
slate-pencils,  etc.,  are  bad,  but  purgatives  are  worse. 


CONSTIPATION. 


59' 


Constipation  occurs  most  frequently  in  advanced 
life,  when  the  tissues  are  less  firm  and  elastic. 
Infants  artificially  fed  are  also  subject  to  it.  The 
poor  children  of  the  rich,  who  are  not  allowed  to 
tumble  around  on  the  floor  for  fear  they  might  bump 
their  little  heads,  and  who  always  have  a nurse  to 
carry  them  about,  often  lack  muscular  force  to  be 
anything  but  constipated.  Their  abdominal  muscles 
get  so  little  exercise  that  they  cannot  perform  their 
office.  Little  children  with  marked  tendencies  to 
gout,  rheumatism,  scrofula,  and  other  morbid  consti- 
tutional states,  are  also  its  victims.  Women  suffer 
more  than  men,  partly  from  neglect  and  carelessness, 
and  partly  from  anatomical  structure  and  physiologi- 
cal conditions.  Pressure  from  periodically  enlarged 
pelvic  organs,  from  pregnancy,  or  from  the  products 
of  pelvic  inflammation,  results  in  a greater  or  less 
degree  of  sluggishness  in  the  muscular  action  that  is 
necessary  to  proper  and  regular  defecation. 

In  women  the  results  of  constipation  are  particu- 
larly disastrous.  The  bad  habit  predisposes  to  the 
development  of  piles  and  to  uterine  and  ovarian 
congestion,  to  unnatural  positions  of  the  uterus  and 
to  prolapse  of  the  ovaries,  and  to  ovarian  and  other 
neuralgias.  Intensely  painful  affections  of  the  sciatic 
nerve  are  also  caused  in  this  way.  It  aggravates 
the  symptoms  of  every  pelvic  disorder,  partly  by 
local  congestion  and  partly  by  general  deterioration 
of  health,  due  to  the  absorption  of  poisons  and  con- 


60  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

tamination  of  the  blood,  and  to  the  loss  of  appetite 
and  impairment  of  digestion.  If  waste  material  be 
not  regularly  thrown  out,  it  undergoes  putrefactive 
changes.  Absorption  from  it  then  distributes  poison 
all  over  the  system.  The  various  activities  of  the 
body  are  sluggishly  performed,  the  brain  is  dull  and 
slow,  and  digestion  is  necessarily  impeded.  The 
tongue  is  furred,  there  is  a bad  taste  in  the  mouth  on 
waking,  and  the  breath  is  tainted  and  offensive.  Life 
takes  on  a dark  tinge,  known  as  “the  blues,”  and 
daily  tasks  are  a burden.  There  are  reflex  pains 
and  irritability,  together  with  muscular  weakness 
and  fatigue.  The  eyes  are  often  affected.  There  is 
a blur  before  them,  and  the  sight  is  weak.  Attacks 
of  vertigo  are  common,  and  so  also  is  sleeplessness. 
In  children,  constipation  may  induce  convulsions  and 
fevers  through  the  poisons  absorbed.  A large  pro- 
portion of  the  mental  and  physical  ailments  on  the 
borderland  of  disease  are  due  to  inactivity  of  the 
bowels. 

The  most  important  agents  in  the  treatment  of 
constipation  are  bathing,  diet,  exercise,  electricity, 
and  massage.  Hygienic  measures  'should  be  tried 
first,  for  they  alone  are  often  successful.  Exercise  is 
the  very  best  remedy,  and  a drug  the  worst  of  all. 

The  skin  should  receive  special  attention,  and  its 
care  comes  under  the  head  of  exercise  and  general 
tonic  treatment.  A potent  factor  in  developing 
cutaneous  activity  is  the  bath.  The  most  available 


CONSTIPATION. 


61 


morning  bath  is  the  shower,  the  patient  standing  in 
hot  water  six  or  seven  inches  deep  in  the  bathtub. 
This  keeps  the  feet  warm  and  prevents  chill.  If  the 
shower  is  too  severe,  sponging  the  body  with  cold 
water  while  standing  in  hot  water  may  be  substi- 
tuted. When  there  is  no  shower,  the  bather  can  use 
a small  pitcher  instead,  dipping  the  cold  water  from 
a pail  near  by.  If  the  spout  is  held  over  the  back  of 
the  neck  and  the  body  bent  a little  forward,  the  water 
will  fall  over  the  spine  and  other  parts  in  a gentle 
stream.  At  first  the  water  can  only  be  poured  over 
a few  times.  In  a few  weeks  it  can  be  borne  very 
cold  for  some  minutes.  This  is  called  a cold  effusion, 
and  is  a much  attenuated  form  of  the  Charcot  douche. 
Quick  drying  with  soft  towels  and  brisk  rubbing 
with  coarse  ones  should  follow.  If,  for  some  good 
reason,  the  bath  is  omitted  any  morning,  the  entire  » 
body  should  be  rubbed  with  coarse  towels.  Swim- 
ming is  good,  for  it  exercises  every  muscle  of  the 
body.  A sea  bath  is  taken  in  the  purest  air  possible, 
where  salt  water  adds  to  the  stimulating  effect  that 
comes  from  buffeting  with  the  waves,  and  where  the 
direct  rays  of  light  are  not  without  effect.  For  the 
weak  three  minutes  are  enough  for  a sea  bath.  W ith 
returning  strength  the  time  may  be  lengthened  to  ten 
minutes.  A sea  bath  of  fifteen  minutes’  duration 
presupposes  good  health. 

Systematized  muscular  movements  are  of  definite 
value  in  overcoming  constipation.  Standing  on  one 


62 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


leg,  first  on  the  left,  and  then  on  the  right,  and  swing- 
ing the  other  backward  and  forward  from  five  to  ten 
minutes,  is  excellent  for  this  purpose.  Alternately 
squatting  down  with  the  heels  together  and  rising 
slowly,  strengthens  the  abdominal  muscles  and  im- 
proves the  abdominal  circulation.  Creeping  about 
on  the  hands  and  knees  like  a young  child  will  force 
misplaced  organs  into  their  proper  position  and  thus 
relieve  pressure,  reduce  congestion,  and  equalize 
energy.  Such  exercises  must  be  used  moderately 
always,  briefly  at  first,  and  the  time  be  gradually 
lengthened.  The  bicycle  is  far  better  than  horseback 
riding,  on  account  of  the  superior  position.  As 
women  never  ride  for  speed,  but  only  for  health  and 
pleasure,  they  are  exempt  from  the  injurious  effects 
of  bending  forward.  Bicycling  is  the  best  exercise 
ever  yet  invented  for  women.  It  is  taken  out  of 
doors,  it  is  interesting,  it  is  the  embodiment  of  free- 
dom, and  annihilates  time  and  space.  A combina- 
tion of  bicycle  and  common  sense  will  do  more  to 
keep  digestive  functions  in  order  than  any  compound 
known  to  the  chemist. 

Diet  is  of  importance.  Fruit  is  usually  of  benefit, 
particularly  figs,  berries,  stewed  prunes,  and  baked 
apples.  An  orange  or  a pear  taken  immediately  on 
rising  will  sometimes  act  as  a laxative.  A glass  of 
water  will  often  do  as  well ; and  is  best  followed  by 
another  at  eleven  o’clock,  at  four,  and  one  on  retir- 
ing. Spinach,  lettuce,  tomatoes,  salsify,  and  celery 


CONSTIPATION. 


63 


are  vegetables  that  are  anti-constipative ; and  so  also 
are  brown-bread  and  molasses.  A teaspoonful  of  un- 
ground flaxseed  which  has  been  macerated  in  water 
for  some  hours,  given  daily,  is  an  effective  French 
remedy.  Articles  known  to  disagree  with  one  are 
best  given  up.  A monotonous  diet  is  sure  to  cause 
indigestion.  Food  should  be  varied  from  day  to  day. 

Too  great  a variety  at  any  one  time  is  an  aesthetic 
as  well  as  a hygienic  blunder.  If  meals  have  to  be 
taken  alone,  the  solace  of  a book ‘ may  prevent  too 
rapid  and  disconsolate  eating. 

Medicinal  agents  are  sometimes  a temporary 
necessity.  Preparations  containing  rhubarb,  soda, 
aloes,  podophyllin,  nux  vomica,  and  strychnia  are 
excellent.  When  there  is  general  lack  of  tone,  cod 
liver  oil  is  required.  Stout  women  and  those  with 
pendulous  abdomens  need  for  the  muscles  the  sup- 
port of  a bandage.  Glycerine,  either  in  the  form  of 
a suppository  or  as  a small  injection,  is  very  valuable. 
Half  a teaspoonful  of  boric  acid  introduced  into  the 
rectum  is  an  efficient  remedy.  Injections  of  tepid 
water  containing  soap,  molasses,  salt,  inspissated  ox- 
gall, or  small  quantities  of  turpentine  or  borax,  are 
useful,  and  also  injections  of  olive  oil.  The  patient 
should  lie  down  with  the  hips  elevated,  and  the 
liquid  should  run  slowly  from  a fountain  syringe. 
When  the  rectum  is  irritable  and  sensitive,  yet  con- 
stipation marked,  half  a pint  of  strong  coffee  is  a 
most  soothing  and  efficacious  injection. 


64  TALKS  UPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

Electricity  is  often,  successful,  even  in  the  most 
obstinate  cases.  The  negative  galvanic  electrode  is 
placed  within  the  rectum  and  the  positive  pole  upon 
the  abdomen.  The  faradic  current  is  of  value  in 
promoting  a healthy  tone  in  the  abdominal  muscles. 

Massage  of  the  abdomen  is  a measure  that  the 
sufferer  can  make  use  of  without  assistance.  A 
metal  ball  weighing  from  three  to  six  pounds  is 
covered  with  cloth  to  prevent  chilling  of  the  skin. 
Then  every  morning  it  is  rolled  over  the  abdomen 
from  five  to  ten  minutes,  starting  low  down  on  the 
right  side,  coming  up  in  a straight  line  to  the  ribs 
and  then  going  across  the  abdomen  on  a line  above 
the  navel,  and  afterward  down  the  left  side.  This 
kind  of  massage  may  take  several  weeks  or  months 
to  effect  a cure.  Excellent  results  from  it  are 
reported. 

Special  attention  should  be  paid  to  preventing 
constipation,  for  prevention  is  easier  than  cure  in 
every  instance  of  physical  disorder.  Young  children 
should  be  trained  from  their  earliest  years  to  regular 
habits  of  defecation.  The  best  hour  is  directly  after 
breakfast,  or  after  the  noonday  meal.  The  attempt 
should  be  made  daily  at  the'  appointed  time,  whether 
desire  is  felt  or  not,  and  fifteen  minutes  given  to 
this  duty.  Persistent  daily  effort  will  be  met 
eventually  with  success,  provided  exercise,  diet,  and 
all  the  rest  that  constitutes  hygiene  is  faithfully 
considered.  Perfect  regularity  is  a doctrine  that 


CONSTIPATION. 


65 


should  never  cease  to  be  preached.  Beware  of  pur- 
gatives, which  only  make  matters  worse.  Use  rea* 
son  in  the  regulation  of  conduct,  and  live  out  of 
doors  as  much  as  possible.  Simplify  domestic  ma- 
chinery, so  that  hurry  is  eliminated.  Lead  your 
own  life,  as  far  as  possible,  to  insure  the  best  func- 
tional activity  of  mind  and  body.  Avoid  notions  in 
regard  to  food;  eat  everything  if  you  can,  but  never 
too  many  different  things  at  one  meal.  Pay  strict 
attention  to  the  skin,  for  water  within  and  without 
will  wash  away  much  fatigue  and  mental  depression. 
Try  to  sleep  nine  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  and 
secure  at  any  legitimate  price  some  special  personal 
recreation.  Avoid  heavy  clothing  and  tight  gar- 
ments, which  lessen  muscular  activity.  Adopt  the 
bicycle  as  a near  and  dear  friend.  Rely  chiefly  on 
electricity  and  massage  in  extremity.  And  thus  the 
commonest  disorder  the  physician  is  called  upon  to 
treat  will  finally  disappear. 


CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 

BY  LUCY  HALL-BROWN,  M.  D. 

IF  all  men  and  all  women  could  be  made  to  con- 
form to  a recognized  normal  standard  of  height, 
breadth,  and  weight,  it  would  be  a great  triumph 
of  science  ; the  average  sum  of  human  life  and  human 
usefulness  would  no  doubt  be  increased ; dressmakers 
and  tailors  would  no  longer  be  driven  to  desperation 
in  padding  the  lean  and  pinching  the  fat,  and  other- 
wise struggling  to  adjust  their  fabrics  to  the  humps 
and  hollows  of  hopelessly  rotund  or  scraggy  human- 
ity. 

If,  by  wishing  alone,  man  could  “ add  one  cubit  to 
his  stature,”  or  increase  or  decrease  his  avoirdupois, 
science  might  rest.  We  should  all  be  pretty  nearly 
of  the  same  size ; for  where  is  a plump  person  who 
would  not  like  to  be  thinner,  a thin  person  who 
would  not  like  to  be  plumper,  or  a short  one 
who  would  not  like  to  be  taller  ? 

Upon  the  whole,  we  are  glad  that  the  diversity  is 
maintained,  science  and  personal  desire  to  the  con- 
trary. 

We  like  to  see  the  little,  round,  roly-poly  man, 
with  his  clean  bald  head,  bright  eyes,  and  cheery 
voice ; we  like  to  see  his  tall,  dignified,  broad-shoul- 


66 


CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 


67 


dered  brother,  and  we  cannot  conceal  our  admiration 
of  the  straight,  wiry,  agile  man,  “ thin  as  a Damascus 
blade,”  all  nerve,  and  fire,  and  energy. 

Not  an  inch  of  stature  would  we  see  added  to  the 
one,  nor  taken  from  the  others ; not  an  ounce  of  flesh 
would  we  have  transferred. 

The  chubby  maiden  may  bewail  her  five  feet  two  ' 
inches,  and  sigh  because  she  cannot  wear  plaid 
gowns  and  spreading  furbelows ; but,  arrayed  in  the 
dainty  costumes  which  belong  to  her,  she  divides  the 
honors  pretty  evenly  with  her  tall,  willowy  friend, 
and  more  than  occasionally  comes  off  with  the  lion’s 
share. 

Who  would  banish  from  our  midst  the  matronly 
figures  so  suggestive  of  home,  and  comfort,  and 
motherly  love  ? A multitude  of  sylphs  and  fairies 
could  not  console  us  for  their  absence,  nor  fill  their 
places  in  our  hearts. 

To  be  healthy  and  well  favored,  to  have  sound 
tissues,  fed  from  pure  and  wholesome  blood  currents, 
is,  after  all,  that  which,  of  all  God’s  blessings,  is  most 
to  be  desired,  and  any  one  thus  fortunate  may  well 
laugh  at  a few  pounds  more  or  less  of  solid  flesh. 

The  obese  and  the  emaciated  fall  outside  these 
happy  bounds,  and,  whether  so  by  their  own  fault  or 
otherwise,  they  demand  our  aid  and  our  sympathy. 

A man  or  woman  with  a weak  heart,  feeble  circu- 
lation, and  flabby  muscles,  staggering  under  a mourn 
tain  of  useless  adipose,  is  as  far  from  health  as  the 


68  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

querulous,  irritable  dyspeptic,  with  his  vitiated  blood 
and  attenuated  limbs. 

Life  insurance  companies  refuse  to  insure  persons 
who  are  extremely  corpulent  or  extremely  thin.  Most 
companies  have  a standard  of  weight,  varying  from 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  to  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds  for  a man  of  average  height,  and  fifteen  or 
twenty  pounds  above  or  below  this  standard  is  con- 
sidered unsafe,  or,  as  they  term  it,  “a  bad  risk.” 
Modifications  of  this  rule  are  allowed  where  there  is 
a family  history  of  health  and  longevityv  and  the 
organs  of  the  would-be-insured  give  no  evidence  of 
disease  or  embarrassment  from  the  lack  or  the  super- 
abundance of  flesh,  and  where  the  accumulation  or 
the  loss  of  it  has  been  gradual. 

Sudden  and  extreme  increase  or  decrease  in  weight 
is  always  looked  upon  with  grave  suspicion,  as  indi- 
cating the  onset  of  serious  disease.  In  excessive 
leanness  suddenly  developed,  and  more  especially 
where  the  habits  of  life  of  the  individual  would  seem 
to  favor  corpulency,  this  evidence  of  malnutrition 
points  to  some  fatal  disorder. 

Heredity  is,  no  doubt,  a powerful  influence  in 
many  cases  of  corpulency  and  leanness  (but  the  con- 
dition need  not  on  this  account  become  unduly 
developed  if  properly  combated). 

Habit  and  occupation  are  equally  powerful.  The 
lean,  lantern-jawed  New  England  farmer,  wresting  a 
scanty  sustenance  from  among  the  rocks  of  his  native 


CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 


69 


hills,  who,  as  the  witty  Irishman  has  said,  “must 
work  himself  to  death  to  keep  himself  alive,”  is  a 
product  of  his  habit  and  environment.  Whatever 
his  fate,  fatty  deposits  of  any  kind  will  never  play  a 
part  in  it.  Neither  could  the  raw-boned  Western 
cowboy  ever  succeed  in  stowing  away  in  his  tendi- 
nous frame  the  wherewithal  to  make  him  aldermanic 
in  proportions,  and  well  it  is  for  his  poor  mustang 
that  such  is  the  case. 

G-reat  mental  activity , physical  restlessness , or  mus- 
cular exercise , carried  to  an  extreme,  are  almost 
always  associated  with  a lean  body. 

The  comfortable  and  well-to-do,  with  no  great 
ambitions  or  worries,  are  apt  to  grow  stout,  espe- 
cially as  years  advance  with  them.  Sedentary  habits 
also  favor  corpulency. 

Sitting  at  the  table  of  one  of  our  great  summer 
hotels,  I watched  the  diners  as  they  passed  in  and 
out.  From  the  slowly  moving  procession  it  was 
easy  to  select  the  unexercised  and  overfed  as  they 
laboriously  tugged  their  unwieldy  bodies  to  chairs 
which  creaked  under  their  weight,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  gorge  themselves  with  every  fattening  com- 
bination which  the  bill  of  fare  offered.  Surely  their 
“ god  is  their  belly”  and  “ Allah  is  great ! ” was 
my  mental  comment. 

That  people  attain  to  such  extreme  degrees  of 
obesity  is,  in  the  greater  number  of  cases,  their  own 
fault.  It  is,  as  a rule,  an  easy  matter  to  prevent  or 


70  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

reduce  extreme  corpulency;  a fact  which  the  cor- 
pulent would  do  well  to  heed. 

Very  fleshy  people  do  not  endure  strain  of  any 
kind  so  well  as  those  of  medium  weight.  They  are 
more  easily  fatigued.  They  more  readily  succumb 
to  acute  disease ; or,  in  other  words,  they  have  less 
vital  resistance.  They  are  more  liable  to  accidents. 
They  recover  less  readily  from  accidents.  They  are 
less  favorable  subjects  for  surgical  operations.  Their 
average  of  life  is  less. 

To  reduce  the  flesh  where  the  vital  organs  are  in 
a comparative  state  of  health,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
take  more  muscular  exercise  and  maintain  a suit- 
able diet.  With  the  reduction  of  flesh  in  this 
manner  will  ensue  a corresponding  toning  up  of  the 
system. 

That  a good  deal  of  self-denial  and  determination 
will  be  required  upon  the  part  of  the  patient  is  true ; 
in  the  beginning,  at  least,  he  should  not  be  allowed 
to  be  tempted  by  the  sight  or  odor  of  food  of  which 
he  may  not  partake.  Two  meals  daily,  of  which 
lean  meat  forms  the  chief  portion ; a very  limited 
amount  of  starchy  food,  and  no  sugar ; plenty  of 
hot  water  an  hour  before  meals,  and  one  cup  of  tea 
without  milk  or  sugar  at  each  mealtime  will  form 
the  general  plan  of  the  dietary.  No  beer  or  alcohol 
of  any  kind  should  be  taken. 

For  exercise,  have  a large  leather  ball  suspended 
from  the  ceiling,  and  punch  it  vigorously  morning 


CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 


71 


and  evening,  sponging  off  with  cold  water  afterward. 
Exercise  particular  muscles  by  voluntary  effort  — es- 
pecially the  abdominal.  Walk  slowly  up  and  down 
stairs  several  times  daily.  Walk  in  the  open  air, 
gradually  extending  the  distance.  Ride  a bicycle 
one  or  two  hours  daily.  Do  not  take  naps  in  the 
daytime.  Rise  early  and  don’t  forget  the  exercise 
and  the  cold  sponge.  Turkish  and  Russian  baths  are 
also  very  helpful  for  those  so  situated  that  they  can 
avail  themselves  of  them. 

For  more  serious  conditions  of  corpulency,  es- 
pecially where  the  circulatory  organs  have  become 
markedly  involved,  a regime  carefully  prescribed  by 
the  physician  and  strictly  carried  out  by  the  patient 
is  necessary. 

Among  the  most  effective  of  the  so-called  “ meth- 
ods ” are  those  of  Banting,  Erbstein,  and  Oertel. 
The  author  of  the  Banting  method  reduced  himself 
from  202  to  150  pounds  in  one  year. 

The  essential  principles  of  this  method  are  : limita- 
tion of  the  amount  of  fluid  taken  to  one  and  three 
fourths  pints  in  the  twenty-four  hours ; exclusion  of 
sugars  and  fats  from  the  dietary ; but  two  ounces  of 
bread;  and,  altogether,  but  twenty-one  to  twenty- 
seven  ounces  of  solid  food  allowed  'per  diem. 

The  essential  difference  between  this  method  and 
that  of  Erbstein  is  that  the  latter  permits  the  use  of 
fats,  believing  that  fats  produce  a feeling  of  satiety, 
and  so  less  food  is  demanded  by  the  appetite.  The 


72  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

fault  in  these  two  methods  is  that  they  reduce  the 
patient’s  strength  too  much. 

Oertel’s  method  commends  itself  as  being  the 
most  rational.  The  foundation  principle  is  the  per- 
sistent enforcement  of  exercise.  Very  corpulent 
people  soon  lose  muscular  tone,  and  the  heart  muscle 
is  among  those  earliest  affected ; it  is  liable  to  suffer 
further  by  fatty  deposits  actually  displacing  the 
muscular  tissue,  thus  rendering-  the  heart-walls  weak 
and  enfeebling  their  action.  Also,  masses  of  fat 
may  accumulate  about  the  heart,  crowding  upon  and 
embarrassing  the  poor  organ  till  it  finally  gives  up  an 
altogetner  hopeless  struggle,  strikes  work,  and  all  is 
over. 

Professor  Oertel’s  aim  is  to  strengthen  the  heart’s 
action  by  persistent  exercise,  dispose  of  the  excess 
of  fat  by  the  same  means,  to  prevent  new  formation 
of  it  by  abstaining  from  fat-building  foods  and  drinks, 
and  to  substitute  normal  muscular  tissue  by  the  use 
of  a more  liberal  amount  of  albuminous  food  than  is 
allowed  in  the  first-named  methods;  a steady  in- 
crease of  muscular  power  and  general  vitality,  as 
well  as  decrease  in  adipose  tissue,  is  secured  by  this 
plan  of  treatment. 

- Alcoholic  stimulants  are  forbidden  in  all  methods 
as  they  favor  fatty  degeneration. 

Where  fatty  degeneration  of  the  heart  or  other 
vital  organs  has  reached  an  advanced  stage,  great 
care  must  be  observed  in  prescribing  exercise,  or  in 


CORPULENCY  AND  LEANNESS. 


73 


any  change  of  diet  which  might  weaken  the  patient. 
It  were  better  had  he  been  wise  in  time,  and  the 
condition  never  been  established. 

As  a rule,  it  is  easier  , to  reduce  the  flesh  of  a cor- 
pulent person  than  it  is  to  increase  that  of  one  who 
is  distinctively  lean  in  habit.  Where  there  has  been 
loss  of  flesh  from  nervous  exhaustion,  worry,  dyspep- 
sia, or  insufficiency  of  food,  the  case  is  otherwise. 
Removal  of  the  cause  of  the  emaciation,  rest,  massage, 
oil  inunctions,  and  plenty  of  fattening  ingredients  in 
the  diet  will  cause  a rapid  return  of  the  lost  weight. 

Where  the  condition  is  one  of  grave  malnutrition^ 
or  serious  wasting  disease,  a temporary  amelioration 
may  be  secured  by  careful  attention  to  the  diet ; and, 
in  any  event,  it  should  always  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  valuable  accessories  to  whatever  line  of 
treatment  is  adopted,  as  it  not  only  aids  directly  in 
the  cure,  but  it  sustains  the  patient  while  the  disease 
is  being  subdued.  Even  where  recovery  is  impossible 
life  is  lengthened  and  made  much  more  comfortable 
by  it. 

The  Weir-Mitchell  plan  of  absolute  rest  and  isola- 
tion, passive  exercise,  and  forced  feeding  is  often 
very  successful  in  restoring  flesh  and  vitality  to  the 
patient. 

While  the  stature  to  which  man  shall  attain  seems 
the  result  of  some  law  or  laws  which  we  have  not  as 
yet  mastered,  the  amount  of  flesh  which  he  shall 
deport  is  very  largely  a matter  of  choice.  That  a 


74  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

time  will  come  when  stature,  as  well  as  breadth,  shall 
be  largely  controlled,  possibly  by  bone-making  foods, 
manipulation,  and  exercise,  there  is  not  much  doubt. 
Indeed,  the  superior  height  of  so  many  of  the  young 
women  of  to-day  is  conclusive  evidence  that  some 
influence  is  at  work  to  produce  a result  so  obvious. 
That  “ the  tall  girl  is  the  fashion  ” is  not  the  work 
of  chance.  Whether  or  not  the  secret  can  be  cap- 
tured and  put  in  harness  is  the  question  for  the 
future  to  answer. 


CARE  OF  THE 

SKIN,  HANDS,  FEET,  AND  HAIR. 

BY  CHRISTINE  TERHTJNE  HERRICK. 

THE  woman  who  desires  to  be  attractive  can- 
not neglect  the  general  care  of  her  skin. 
It  is  not  enough  to  bestow  attention  upon 
those  portions  which  are  displayed  to  public  view. 
No  amount  of  treatment  expended  upon  the  face  in 
the  way  of  sponging,  massage,  unguents,  etc.,  can 
produce  a clear  complexion  and  a healthy  color  if 
the  skin  upon  the  rest  of  the  body  fails  to  receive  its 
due  share  of  such  stimulus  to  healthy  action  as  is 
given  by  bathing  and  rubbing. 

The  chief  function  of  the  skin  is  to  co-operate 
with  the  kidneys  in  eliminating  refuse  fluid  from 
the  body.  To  accomplish  this  adequately,  the  pores 
must  be  kept  open  and  in  healthy  action.  All  se- 
cretions that  would  clog  them  and  impede  the  free 
passage  of  perspiration  must  be  removed,  and  com- 
pletely. And,  since  the  perspiration  itself  contains 
certain  impurities,  this  should  not  be  allowed  to  re- 
main upon  the  surface  until  it  becomes  offensive. 

The  most  effectual  agent  in  keeping  the  body 
extremely  clean  is,  of  course,  the  Turkish  bath,  in 
which  the  first  step  is  to  induce  a copious  flow  of 

75 


76  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

perspiration  by  placing  the  patient  in  a very  hot 
room.  After  this,  she  is  submitted  to  a vigorous 
massage  that  removes  all  the  dried  cuticle  and  other 
effete  matter  from  the  pores.  A hot  bath,  supple- 
mented, if  the  patient  desires,  by  a cold  plunge  or 
spray  and  another  massage  concludes  the  cleansing 
process,  and  after  the  period  of  rest  that  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  programme,  the  bather  feels 
that  for  once  in  her  life,  at  least,  she  is  thoroughly 
clean. 

While  Turkish  baths  may  not  be  within  the  reach 
of  every  one,  cleanliness  is,  although  at  the  price  of 
more  trouble  than  some  people  seem  willing  to  be- 
stow. A daily  bath,  in  some  form,  is  indispensable. 
There  are  people  who  find  a “ tub  bath  ” every  day 
refreshing  and  strengthening ; while  many  declare 
it  enervating.  It  is  as  dangerous  to  dogmatize  upon 
the  frequency  of  the  plunge  as  it  is  to  dictate 
whether  the  water  in  which  it  is  to  be  taken  shall 
be  hot  or  cold.  These  are  questions  which  each 
bather  must  settle  by  her  own  experience.  Upon 
one  point,  however,  it  is  safe  to  be  positive.  The 
skin  cannot  be  properly  cleansed  by  the  application 
of  cold  water,  of  which  the  instantaneous  effect  is 
to  close  the  pores  and  thus  confine  the  impurities 
they  contain.  The  bather  who  desires  the  tonic 
effect  of  the  cold  water  should  precede  the  plunge 
douche  by  a bath  in  warm  water  that  will  bring  to 
the  surface  the  secretions  lurking  in  the  pores. 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  AND  FEET.  77 

The  devotees  of  the  hot  plunge  bath,  who  declare 
that  it  stimulates  and  refreshes,  are  prone  to  think 
that  it  is  difficult  to  secure  complete  cleanliness 
without  the  aid  of  a big  tub.  Undoubtedly  a “ tub- 
bing ” is  the  easiest  way  of  cleansing  the  skin,  but 
the  same  result  can  be  obtained  with  a smaller  sup- 
ply of  hot  water,  if  it  is  seconded  by  a sponge  or  a 
wash-cloth.  A bathing  mitten  of  Turkish  toweling 
is  excellent  for  this  purpose.  The  whole  body 
should  be  well  scrubbed,  and  the  soap,  which  must 
be  freely  used,  is  quickly  removed  by  a second  rapid 
application  of  either  tepid  or  cool  water. 

The  bath  has  not  done  its  full  service  unless  it  is 
concluded  by  a vigorous  rubbing  with  a rough  towel, 
the  rougher  the  better  when  it  is  used  upon  an 
adult’s  skin.  This  not  only  absorbs  moisture,  but 
by  drawing  the  blood  to  the  surface  produces  what 
is  known  as  “ a healthy  glow,”  and  encourages  the 
skin  to  action. 

Even  a regular  daily  bath  is  not  sufficient,  in  cer- 
tain cases,  to  remove  the  unpleasant  odor  of  perspi- 
ration with  which  some  people  are  afflicted.  Those 
who'suffer  thus  should  endeavor  to  neutralize  it  by 
bathing  twice  a day  in  hot  weather,  and  by  adding 
to  the  bath  a small  amount  of  household  ammonia  or 
powdered  borax.  Oatmeal  bags,  or  bran  bags,  or 
bags  of  almond  meal  are  also  admirable  for  the 
bath,  and  can  be  procured  from  most  druggists. 
There  are  a few  toilet  waters  that  are  agreeable  addi- 


78  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

tions  to  the  bath,  but  they  should  be  avoided  by  all 
those  who  are  troubled  with  offensive  perspiration. 
The  mingling  of  the  odor  of  this  with  the  perfume 
that  has  been  used  to  disguise  it  is  peculiarly  dis- 
agreeable. 

A very  fair  imitation  of  a Turkish  bath  can  be 
achieved  at  home.  The  bather  produces  the  drench- 
ing perspiration  that  is  the  first  step  in  the  process 
by  seating  herself  in  a cane-bottomed  chair  under 
which  is  a pan  of  boiling  water  over  a lighted 
alcohol  lamp,  and  muffling  herself  in  a blanket  that 
is  large  enough  to  enfold  both  her  and  the  chair. 
Ten  or  fifteen  minutes  of  such  steaming  is  usually 
enough  to  cause  copious  perspiration.  A sponging 
off  in  hot  water,  accompanied  by  hard  rubbing,  fol- 
lows this,  and  then  another  sponging  with  cold  water. 
The  vigorous  use  of  a Turkish  towel  is  the  last  act 
of  the  bath,  and  after  this  the  bather  is  quite  content 
to  put  on  a wrapper  and  lie  down  to  rest  for  half  an 
hour. 

Massage  materially  aids  the  action  of  the  skin, 
which  is  strengthened  and  toned  up  by  the  pinching, 
kneading,  and  rubbing  to  which  it  is  subjected  by  an 
accomplished  masseuse . Under  her  skilled  hand, 
there  will  appear  on  the  skin  which  the  patient 
fondly  imagined  was  clean,  rolls  of  dead  cuticle  and 
particles  of  matter  she  is  blushingly  forced  to  de- 
scribe as  dirt. 

A word  concerning  the  soap  that  is  used  in  bath- 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  AND  FEET.  79 

ing.  Never  buy  cheap  soaps  ! This  is  a point  in 
which  persons  who  have  any  regard  for  their  skins 
cannot  afford  to  economize.  It  does  not  come  within 
the  province  of  the  writer  to  recommend  any  one 
brand  of  soap.  There  are  many  excellent  varieties, 
both  American  and  imported.  A simple  test  for  a 
toilet  soap  is  to  put  a little  of  it  in  the  water  with 
which  the  eyes  are  bathed.  Any  soap  which  causes 
healthy  eyes  to  smart  is  said  by  experts  to  contain 
too  much  alkali  to  be  beneficial  to  the  skin.  What- 
ever the  soap,  it  should  always  be  washed  completely 
from  the  skin  after  bathing,  before  the  towel  is 
applied. 

CARE  OF  THE  FACE. 

It  is  seldom  advisable  to  wash  the  face  more  than 
once  a day.  Where  one  has  been  subjected  to  the 
dust  of  travelling,  a cloth  or  sponge  slightly  dampened 
with  water  or  pure  cologne  will  remove  all  soil 
quite  as  readily  as  one  drenching  wet.  Especially 
after  exposure  to  the  sun  or  wind  should  a ruthless 
application  of  water  to  the  face  be  avoided. 

In  washing  the  face,  use  either  the  hand  or  a fine 
sponge  or  cloth.  When  soap  or  almond  meal  is  em- 
ployed, rinse  it  off  carefully,  and  then  dry  the  face 
gently  with  a soft  towel,  “ dabbing,”  rather  than 
rubbing  it.  Wipe  up,  to  avoid  wrinkles. 

There  is  a popular  prejudice  that  the  face  can  be 
made  clean  by  soap  and  water  alone.  This  fallacy 
will  be  instantly  corrected  for  any  woman  who,  after 


80 


- / 

TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

washing  her  face  in  the  approved  manned,  will  anoint 
it  with  cold  cream,  rubbing  this  in  will,  and  then 
wipe  it  off  with  a piece  of  fine  white  flannel.  The 
grime  that  the  unguent  brings  away  with  it  will  be  a 
revelation  to  her.  After  this,  she  may  wash  the  face 
with  tepid  water,  and  dry  it  with  a soft  cloth.  Such 
a treatment  as  this,  taken  once  or  twice  a week  at 
bedtime,  will  prove  beneficial  to  the  skin.  When 
used  before  retiring,  a second  and  lighter  application 
of  cold  cream,  put  on  after  wiping  with  the  flannel 
and  allowed  to  remain  until  morning,  will  soften  and 
whiten  the  skin.  Only  the  best  quality  of  cold  cream 
should  be  purchased. 

Face-steaming,  indulged  in  sparingly  and  discreetly, 
is  excellent.  The  professional  face-steamer  will  not 
only  submit  the  patient's  face  to  a jet  of  medicated 
steam,  after  treating  it  with  cold  cream,  as  described 
above,  but  will  also  massage  or  manipulate  the  skin 
in  such  a fashion  as  to  exercise  the  muscles  and 
stimulate  the  blood  vessels.  The  face  may  be  steamed 
at  home  by  holding  it  over  a funnel  placed  in  the 
spout  of  a boiling  teakettle  or  by  bending  it  over  a 
pan  of  boiling  water.  In  either  case  a large  towel 
should  be  thrown  over  the  patient’s  head,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  the  steam  at  the  sides.  This 
steaming  should  always  be  preceded  by  an  application 
of  cold  cream  and  rubbing  with  soft  flannel.  As  the 
face  should  be  held  over  the  hot  water  for  from  ten 
to  twenty  minutes,  the  process  is  fatiguing.  When 


CAKE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  AND  FEET.  81 

it  is  over  the  skin  may  be  dried  and  gently  kneaded 
with  the  fingers.  If  the  treatment  is  taken  oftener 
than  once  a month,  it  is  said  to  make  the  flesh  of  the 
face  flabby  and  induce  wrinkles.  These  blemishes 
are  best  avoided  by  a serenity  that  shuns  such  tricks 
of  feature  as  grimaces,  frowns,  etc.  A cold  douche 
at  bedtime  and  again  on  rising  is  said  to  be  helpful 
in  preventing  wrinkles. 

There  are  other  facial  blemishes  which  are  more 
easily  remedied,  as  “ blackheads,”  which  can  often  be 
removed  by  a rough  towel  after  face-steaming,  or  by 
holding  against  the  affected  spot  a cloth  wrung  out 
in  hot  water  until  the  skin  is  softened ; freckles, 
which  may  be  faded,  at  least,  by  touching  them  twice 
a day  with  lemon-juice  or  buttermilk,  or  with  scraped 
horseradish  and  milk  mixed  in  the  proportion  of  a 
tablespoonful  of  the  former  to  a teacupful  of  the 
latter.  Moth-patches  and  pimples  are  usually  the 
result  of  physical  disorders  which  demand  a physi- 
cian’s attention,  and  moles  and  birthmarks  should 
also  be  submitted  to  specialists,  and  not  trifled  with 
by  amateurs. 

CAKE  OF  THE  HANDS. 

Nothing  contributes  more  to  the  beauty  of  the 
hands  than  well-tended  nails.  The  skin  should  be 
kept  pushed  down  or  trimmed  away  from  the  base 
of  the  nail,  and  the  nail  itself  must  be  cut  or  filed 
away  at  the  upper  corners,  that  it  may  not  spread 


82  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

the  finger-tip.  The  nail  should  be  no  longer  than 
the  finger,  and  rounded,  rather  than  pointed  in  the 
similitude  of  a claw.  A competent  manicure  will 
make  even  stubby  nails  look  less  unattractive,  but 
her  treatment  must  be  supplemented  by  home  care. 
Hang-nails  should  be  removed  as  soon  as  they  appear 
by  the  help  of  a keen  knife  or  sharp-  nail-scissors. 
They  should  never  be  bitten  or  pulled  off.  For  ruin- 
ing the  shape,  texture,  and  color  of  the  nails,  the 
trick  of  nibbling  them  can  be  unqualifiedly  endorsed. 
This  habit,  so  unwholesome  in  itself  and  unpleasant 
to  others,  can  often  be  checked  by  a course  of  mani- 
curing. Occasionally  it  is  caused  by  improper 
cutting  of  the  nails,  producing  a discomfort  that 
leads  children  and  even  adults  to  bite  the  nail  where 
it  irritates  the  skin.  Manicuring  not  only  prevents 
the  formation  of  hang-nails,  which  are  a temptation 
to  the  individual,  but  also  so  emphasizes  the  proper 
care  of  the  nails  as  to  act  as  a check  to  the  person  in 
biting  them. 

After  washing  the  hands  with  a good  toilet  soap 
or  with  almond-meal,  drying  them,  and  anointing 
them  with  some  such  preparation  as  frostilla  or 
glycerine  mixed  in  equal  parts  with  lemon-juice,  or 
bay  rum,  or  rose-water,  the  skin  should  be  pushed 
down  from  the  base  of  the  nail  with  a small,  bludt 
instrument.  For  this  the  manicure  uses  an  orange- 
wood  stick.  Once  a day  the  nails  should  be  polished 
with  powder  and  one  of  the  buffers  made  for  this 


CARE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  AND  FEET.  83 

purpose,  and  once  or  twice  a week  a little  rose  paste 
may  be  applied  to  them  before  the  polishing.  After 
this,  the  hands  should  be  washed  and  the  nails 
scrubbed  with  a brush  to  remove  the  paste  and  pow- 
der. A dry  polish  with  a buffer  will  complete  the 
good  work. 

Old  loose  gloves  should  be  worn  while  at  her 
work  by  the  woman  who  digs  in  her  garden  or  does 
her  own  housework.  The  finger  tips  may  be  cut 
from  those  she  wears  when  washing  dishes.  For 
chapped  or  roughened  hands  cold  cream  or  mutton 
tallow  may  be  used  at  night,  or  cream  and  vinegar 
mixed  in  equal  parts,  although  there  will  be  little 
trouble  in  this  line  for  the  woman  who  always  washes 
her  hands  by  the  directions  given  above. 

CARE  OF  THE  FEET. 

Unless  one  can  find  a shoe  that  is  an  absolutely  per- 
fect fit,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid  corns.  Even 
the  wearer  of  the  common-sense  shoe  occasionally  re- 
quires the  aid  of  the  chiropodist,  but  she  suffers  far  less 
than  the  woman  who  is  a martyr  to  high  heels  and 
pointed  toes.  The  former  should  never  be  worn 
except  upon  a house-slipper,  and  the  patron  of  the 
narrow  toe  should  take  care  to  buy  a shoe  enough 
longer  than  her  usual  size  to  allow  her  toes  sufficient 
space.  A cheap  shoe  is  a wretched  investment, 
whether  one  views  it  from  the  point  of  shape,  com- 
fort, or  true  economy. 


84  TALKS  UPON  PEACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

The  dainty,  thin-soled  shoe  should  be  reserved  for 
the  house  or  the  carriage.  For  the  street  there 
should  be  low  heels  and  a sole  thick  enough  to 
protect  the  foot  from  bruise  or  dampness.  A light 
rubber  worn  in  bad  weather  not  only  protects  the 
health,  but  preserves  the  shoe  by  securing  it  from  the 
cracking  and  stretching  that  are  more  injurious  than 
the  actual  wetting. 

A bath  in  hot  water  containing  sea-salt  is  soothing 
to  weary  or  swollen  feet,  and  for  the  latter  is  also 
recommended  water  in  which  has  been  boiled  a 
handful  of  wood-ashes,  straining  this  out  before 
putting  in  the  feet.  A little  borax  added  to  warm 
water  is  excellent  for  perspiring  feet,  and  these  should 
be  powdered  with  lycopodium  after  bathing. 

A competent  chiropodist  is  the  best  remedy  for 
corns.  No  one  can  hope  to  cure  them  without  remov- 
ing their  cause,  but  they  may  be  relieved  by  the  use 
of  a Japanese  corn-file  or  pumice  stone.  The  knife 
should  be  used  with  great  caution  by  the  domestic 
practitioner.  Relief  is  sometimes  given  by  a corn- 
plaster  with  a hole  in  the  middle,  and  both  for  corns 
and  bunions,  applications  of  lanoline  are  recom- 
mended. 

CAEE  OF  THE  HAIE. 

The  best  hairbrush  is  one  with  rather  stiff  bristles  ; 
the  best  comb,  one  containing  only  coarse  teeth  that 
will  disentangle  the  hair  without  breaking  it  or  drag- 


CAKE  OF  THE  SKIN,  HANDS,  AND  FEET.  85 

ging  it  out  by  the  roots.  A brush  with  wire  bristles 
should  not  be  used. 

The  woman  with  oily  hair  will  probably  wish  to 
wash  it  oftener  than  once  a month,  although  that  is 
really  often  enough  for  “a  wet  shampoo.”  A dry 
shampoo  may  be  taken  every  fortnight.  A good 
wash  for  the  hair  is  made  by  mixing  the  yolk  of  an 
egg  in  a cupful  of  water.  After  cleansing  the  scalp 
with  this,  the  head  and  hair  should  be  well  rinsed  in 
pure  water.  Borax  and  ammonia  are  also  cleansing, 
and  may  be  used  in  the  proportion  of  a teaspoonful 
of  each  to  a large  basin  of  warm  water.  The  hair 
should  be  well  rinsed  from  this,  and  the  rinsing  pro- 
cess receive  especial  care  when  soap,  liquid  or  solid, 
has  been  used  on  the  hair.  Carelessness  in  this  regard 
will  leave  the  hair  unpleasantly  sticky  to  the  touch. 
A little  alcohol  rubbed  about  the  roots  of  the  hair 
after  a shampoo  will  prevent  cold,  and  the  hair  must 
always  be  dried  completely  before,  it  is  put  up. 
Either  heat  or  a fan  may  be  used  for  drying. 

Dandruff  should  not  be  removed  with  a fine  comb, 
as  this  irritates  the  scalp  and  increases  the  trouble  it 
is  intended  to  remedy.  The  dandruff  may  be  loosened 
by  rubbing  with  the  fingers  or  by  a stiff  brush.  Lemon 
juice  rubbed  on  the  scalp  will  sometimes  remove 
dandruff. 

It  might  seem  needless  to  speak  a word  of  warn- 
ing against  hair  dyes,  were  it  not  that  so  many  women 
use  them.  The  best  argument  against  them  is  ridi- 


86  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

cule.  They  are  seldom  so  well  put  on  as  to  fail  to 
attract  notice ; they  give  endless  trouble,  for  they 
must  be  constantly  renewed,  and  they  always  convey 
an  idea  of  the  wearer’s  affectation  and  vanity. 

Sage  tea,  whisky  and  quinine,  and  eucalyptus  are 
all  recommended  for  the  hair  and  scalp.  Frequent 
and  vigorous  brushing  is  said  to  stimulate  the  scalp 
and  to  promote  growth  of  hair. 


CARE  OF  THE  TEETH. 

BY  M.  CHAS.  GOTTSCHALDT,  M,  D.,  D.D.S. 

THERE  is  nothing  more  beautiful  than  a perfect 
human  form.  Every  part  of  it,  and  especially 
the  face,  has  had  its  praises  sung  in  poetry 
and  fiction.  A perfect  form  means  perfect  health, 
and  perfect  health  can  only  be  maintained  by  care  of 
every  individual  part  of  the  economy. 

A beautiful  set'  of  teeth  is  much  admired,  and 
justly  so,  for  without  it  an  otherwise  charming  face 
loses  its  attraction. 

The  care  of  the  teeth  must  begin  with  the  tempo- 
rary or  milk  teeth,  if  you  would  have  a perfect, 
permanent  set.  Unfortunately,  the  temporary  teeth 
are  looked  upon  by  many  people  as  an  introduction 
to  the  pains  and  ills  of  life  to  follow,  and,  conse- 
quently, premature  decay,  instead  of  being  watched 
and  guarded  against,  is  hailed  as  a friend  that  helps 

to  rid  the  child  of  an  enemy. 

Twenty  teeth  comprise  the  first  set,  and  the  order 
of  their  eruption  is  about  as  follows : 

Lower  centrals  from  the  5th  to  7th  month. 

“ laterals  “ “ 6th  “ 9th  “ 

“ first  molars  from  the  10th  to  14th  month. 


87 


88  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

Lower  canines  from  the  14th  to  18th  month. 

“ second  molars  from  the  20th  to  86th  month. 

The  upper  teeth  follow  in  the  same  order,  but  a 
few  weeks  later. 

The  greatest  mortality  among  infants  occurs  during 
the  period  of  dentition,  and,  while  it  would  be  folly 
to  ascribe  every  occurrence  of  fever,  loss  of  sleep, 
restlessness,  vomiting,  diarrhoea,  loss  of  appetite, 
convulsions,  etc.,  to  teething,  it  is,  nevertheless,  true 
that  it  furnishes  its  quota  of  causes.  Other  and  most 
important  changes  take  place  in  the  child’s  organiza- 
tion during  this  period,  and  close  attention  to  food, 
absolute  cleanliness,  and  pure  air  are  indispensable. 

“ Drooling,”  an  increased  flow  of  saliva,  is  gener- 
ally the  first  sign  of  a coming  tooth.  The  child  puts 
its  finger  or  anything  else  it  can  get  hold  of  into 
its  mouth,  and  bites  on  it ; the  gum  becomes  swollen 
and  hot.  If  the  disturbance  continues,  the  flow  of 
saliva  ceases,  the  mouth  becomes  dry  and  hot,  rest- 
lessness and  loss  of  sleep  and  appetite  ensue, 
constipation  or  diarrhoea  follow,  and,  frequently,  con- 
vulsions, ending  in  death. 

The  incisors,  the  name  of  the  upper  and  lower 
front  teeth,  as  a rule,  give  very  little  trouble,  unless 
several  should  make  their  appearance  at  once,  and 
even  then  the  friction  exerted  by  the  child  in  biting 
on  ivory  rings,  etc.,  will,  in  most  cases,  suffice  to 
bring  them  to  the  surface.  But  the  canines  and 


CAKE  OF  THE  TEETH.  89 

molars,  by  reason  of  their  shape,  very  often  need  and 
should  have  other  help. 

Lancing  the  gum  is  not  a painful  operation,  and 
when  properly  performed  gives  almost  instant  relief. 
In-  performing  this  operation,  it  is  not  sufficient  to 
scratch  the  gum,  but  a free  cut  down  to  the  coming 
tooth  should  be  made.  The  bleeding  which  follows 
this  operation  is  generally  very  slight ; sometimes  a 
little  alum  or  tannic  acid  will  be  required  to  stop  it, 
but  in  no  case  is  it  beyond  control. 

The  temporary  teeth  are  intended  to  do  service  for 
from  four  to  nine  years,  and  from  their  first  appear- 
ance till  they  are  replaced  by  their  successors,  system- 
atic care  must  be  bestowed  upon  them.  At  first, 
this  is,  perhaps,  best  accomplished  by  the  use  of  a 
soft  linen  cloth,  wiping  both  teeth  and  gum.  When 
the  child  begins  to  take  solid  food  this  no  longer 
suffices,  and  a small,  soft  toothbrush  must  be  substi- 
tuted. For  a tooth-powder,  precipitated  chalk,  to 
which  a few  drops  of  oil  of  wintergreen  or  rose  have 
been  added,  is  all  sufficient  at  this  stage  ; dip  the 
brush  in  warm  Water,  sprinkle  some  of  the  powder 
on  it,  and  brush  the  teeth  up  and  down,  not  horizon- 
tally, taking  care  not  to  hurt  the  child.  When 
stains  appear  on  the  teeth  they  can  easily  be  removed 
with  an  orange-wood  stick  carrying  a little  finely 
pulverized  pumice  moistened  with  glycerine. 

The  reason  for  brushing  the  teeth  up  and  down 
and  not  across  is  obvious.  The  food  lodges  between 


90  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

the  teeth,  and  by  brushing  horizontally,  as  is  con* 
monly  done,  the  bristles  jump  from  one  tooth-  to 
the  other,  but  fail  to  reach  in  between  the  spaces. 
Draw  the  brush  across  the  backs  of  your  fingers,  and 
you  will  note  that  the  bristles  will  not  go  into  the 
spaces  ; move  it  up  and  down,  and  the  bristles  will 
naturally  seek  the  spaces. 

Dentition  being  completed,  the  child  should  now 
begin  to  visit  the  dentist.  Small  defects  in  the 
enamel  on  the  grinding  surfaces  of  the  molars  very 
often  exist,  and  when  this  is  the  case  decay  soon 
makes  its  appearance.  To  correct  these  defects  is  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  when  taken  in  time, 
whereas,  if  allowed  to  go  until  the  decay  exposes  a 
considerable  part  of  the  dentine  or  reaches  the  pulp 
(nerve),  it  will  give  pain  to  the  child  and  trouble  to 
the  dentist,  and  the  result  will  not  be  nearly  as  sat- 
isfactory. 

Between  the  fifth  and  sixth  years  four  more  teeth 
make  their  appearance  just  back  of  the  second  molar 
in  each  jaw.  These  are  generally  held  to  be  first 
teeth,  because  “my  child  has  never  lost  a tooth.” 
This  is  a grave  error. 

The  sixth  year  molar  is  the  first  tooth  of  the  per- 
manent set  and  the  largest  one.  To  allow  this  tooth 
to  be  lost  by  decay  is  to  rob  the  child  of  the  best 
grinder,  and  is  sowing  the  seed  for  an  irregularity 
which  will  cost  time,  pain,  and  money  to  correct.  If 
through  neglect  the  usefulness  of  this  tooth  has  been 


CARE  OF  THE  TEETH.  91 

permanently  destroyed,  extraction  should  be  resorted 
to  before  the  second  molar  makes  its  appearance. 

The  next  teeth  of  the  permanent  set  to  make  their 
appearance  are  the  incisors  (front  teeth).  The  tem- 
porary teeth  in  most  cases  become  loose  and  fall  out, 
or  become  dislodged  by  yery  little  effort,  and  the 
permanent  ones  come  into  place,  but  not  straight 
(regular).  This,  however,  need  not  cause  any 
anxiety,  as  nature  will  generally  correct  this  in  a 
year  or  so.  If,  however,  the  temporary  teeth  should 
not  loosen  and  the  permanent  ones  show  inclination 
to  come  up  beside  them,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
extract  the  first  teeth.  Here  is  where  many  parents 
and  dentists  make  fatal  mistakes  and  lay  the  founda- 
tion for  an  ill-cared-for  set  of  teeth.  The  child  is 
told  that  it  will  be  taken  to  the  dentist  “ just  to 
have  its  teeth  examined.” 

“ Open  your  mouth  wide  ! I will  not  hurt  you 
one  bit,”  and  the  next  instant  the  tooth  and  the 
child’s  confidence  are  gone.  Do  you,  my  dear 
reader,  trust  a person  that  wilfully  deceives  you  ? 
and  if  not,  would  you  expect  more  from  your  child  ? 
A child  has  reason  and  a right  to  know  what  part 
it  has  to  play  in  anything  concerning  its  comfort. 
Tell  the  child  that  the  old  tooth  must  come  out,  or 
the  new  one  will  come  in  crooked ; that  it  will  hurt 
to  do  this,  but  will  not  be  as  painful  as  the  process 
of  straightening  a crooked  tooth.  Secure  the  child’s 
consent  to  the  operation,  not  by  force,  but  by 


92  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

reason,  and  your  child  will  give  you  very  little 
trouble  about  its  teeth  afterward  and  will  respect 
the  dentist,  instead  of  despising  him. 

Instruct  the  child  how  to  care  for  its  teeth ; sup- 
ply it  with  a soft  toothbrush  and  make  it  a rule  to 
have  it  used  the  first  thing  after  rising,  and  the  last 
thing  before  retiring,  if  not  after  each  meal.  The 
following  mouth-wash  will  be  found  beneficial  and 
pleasant.  Lime-water,  one  pint;  cologne,  a tea- 
spoonful ; shake ; take  of  this  a dessertspoonful,  and 
add  to  a glass  of  warm  water,  and  wash  the  mouth 
thoroughly  with  it.  Warm  water,  as  near  the  tem- 
perature of  the  mouth  as  possible,  should  always  be 
used;  it  is  a better  solvent  than  cold  water  and 
feels  far  more  agreeable  to  the  mouth.  The  use  of 
floss  silk  by  children  should  not  be  encouraged ; the 
little  good  that  is  accomplished  with  it  in  the  way 
of  removing  particles  of  food  from  between  the  teeth 
is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  harm  done  to 
the  gums.  Food  between  the  teeth  that  cannot  be 
dislodged  by  the  brush  and  tongue  can  easily  and 
without  harm  to  the  gum  be  removed  with  a 
Japanese  toothpick,  which  is  made  of  hard  wood,  is 
small,  and  does  not  splinter  or  break  easily. 

Little  need  be  said  of  filling  materials  for  the 
temporary  teeth.  A competent  dentist  will  select 
that  which  is  best  calculated  to  prevent  further 
decay  and  be  comfortable  to  the  little  patient.  For 
the  grinding  surfaces  of  the  molars  amalgam  gen- 


CARE  OF  THE  TEETH. 


93 


erally  answers  best ; for  the  front  teeth,  either  gutta 
percha  or  cement,  and  for  a large  and  sensitive 
cavity,  cement  and  chloro-percha  mixed  together 
will  do  best  service. 

Eruption  of  permanent  teeth.  The  permanent  set 
contains  32  teeth,  and  the  order  of  their  eruption 
is  about  as  follows : — 


First  molars  . . 

. . 5th 

to  6 th 

Central  incisors  . 

. . 6 

8 

Lateral  .... 

. . T 

9 

First  bicuspide 

. . 9 

10 

Second 

. . 10 

12 

Canines  .... 

. . 11 

12 

Second  molars 

. . 12 

13 

Third  molars  (wisdom  teeth),  16 

60 

If  the  temporary  set  has  received  proper  care  there 
will  be  very  little  trouble  about  the  second  dentition ; 
if,  however,  one  or  more  teeth  were  prematurely  lost, 
irregularities  will  invariably  follow.  To  select  the 
proper  time  for  the  correction  of  this  condition  is  of 
the  utmost  importance.  Remember,  however,  that 
nature,  when  intelligently  aided,  will  do  a great  deal 
towards  nndoing  man’s  blunders.  As  no  two  con- 
ditions are  alike,  no  rules  can  be  laid  down  to  guide 
the  parent ; select  a competent  dentist  and  be 
guided  by  his  advice.  Irregularities  inherited  from 
the  parents  require  early  interference,  because  nature 


94 


TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


will  clo  nothing  towards  correcting  such  a condition ; 
nor  is  it  sufficient  to  straighten  these  teeth  and  then 
stop,  for  they  will  in  most  cases  return  to  their 
former  position.  A suitable  retaining  apparatus 
must  be  worn  till  the  teeth  are  firmly  fixed  in  their 
new  position. 

Thorough  mastication  and  insalivation  of  the  food 
are  essential  to  proper  digestion  and  assimilation.  To 
jDunch  a few  holes  in  a piece  of  meat  and  then  send 
it  down  to  the  stomach  is  extending  a hearty  in- 
vitation to  dyspepsia.  To  keep  the  teeth  in  good 
condition  it  is  necessary  to  keep  them  clean,  and  to 
do  this  properly  a suitable  brush  and  powder  are 
essential.  ^ 

A toothbrush^  should  not  be  too  large  nor  too 
stiff  of  bristle.  It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  the 
proper  employment  of  a toothbrush  does  not  require 
the  exercise  of  the  same  amount  of  muscle  as  the 
scrubbing  of  a floor.  The  hard  deposits  of  salivary 
calculus  which  gather  about  the  necks  and  along  the 
labial  and  palatal  walls  of  neglected  teeth,  must  be 
got  rid  of  by  other  means.  They  require  the  atten- 
tion of  the  dentist. 

But  cleaning  the  teeth  and  having  them  filled  is 
not  sufficient  to  keep  them  in  good  condition.  If  you 
fail  to  exercise  your  brain  and  muscles  they  waste, 
and  teeth  are  no  exception  to  this  rule.  The  conclu- 
sion that  if  exercise  is  good  more  exercise  is  better 
must,  however,  not  be  formed,  and  cracking  nuts, 


CARE  OF  THE  TEETH.  95 

straightening  pins,  biting  off  thread,  and  the  like  are 
strictly  to  be  avoided. 

By  exercise  is  meant  that  properly  prepared  food 
should  be  thoroughly  masticated  and  when  conditions 
permit,  both  sides  of  the  jaws  should  alternately  be 
used.  It  may  be  news  to  many  to  learn  that  fully 
eighty  per  cent,  of  the  people  employ  the  left  side 
only.  Denied  their  legitimate  function,  the  teeth  on 
the  unused  side  accumulate  tartar,  the  gums  5ecome 
irritated  and  painful,  and  soon  the  brush  is  religiously 
kept  from  that  side.  The  result  is  easily  foreseen. 

Hot  biscuits,  pies,  pastry,  white  bread  made  from 
flour  from  which  all  the  sustaining  substance  has 
been  eliminated,  lemons  and  ice-water  may  be  gratify- 
ing to  the  palate,  but  are  injurious  to  both  health 
and  teeth. 

The  following  or  any  other  good  tooth-powder 
should  be  used  at  least  once  a day  : — 

9 

Cretae  precipt. 

Pulv.  orris  rad  ~ Jii 
“ sacch.  alba,  gi 
“ Cast.  sap.  alba.  3iv. 

Ole.  gaultherise  a.  gr  s. 

M. 

Mouth-washes  are  useful  when  indicated.  The 
commercial  article,  consisting  mainly  of  alcohol,  soap, 


96 


TALKS  UPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 


water,  coloring,  and  flavoring  materials,  may  be 
pleasant,  but  cannot  be  said  to  do  a great  deal,  if  any 
good.  If  the  saliva  is  acid  in  reaction,  lime-water, 
as  previously  mentioned,  precipitated  chalk,  or 
Phillips’  milk  of  magnesia  should  be  used.  This 
may  be  done  two  or  three  times  a day,  but  particu- 
larly before  retiring.  It  is  not  difficult  to  determine 
whether  the  saliva  is  acid,  alkaline,  or  neutral.  Pro- 
cure from  your  druggist  a few  strips  of  red  and  blue 
litmus  paper  (to  preserve  which  keep  in  a well-corked 
bottle),  place  a blue  strip  between  the  lip  and  gum, 
allowing  it  to  rest  one  or  two  minutes  ; if  on  with- 
drawing, little  red  dots  appear  on  it,  or  if  the  strip 
has  turned  completely  — as  will  be  the  case  if  the 
saliva  is  strongly  acid  — lime-water,  etc.,  are  in- 
dicated. If  the  red  strip  turns  blue,  the  saliva  is 
alkaline,  and  if  neither  red  nor  blue  are  changed,  the 
saliva  is  neutral. 

Listerine  is  with  many  a favored  wash,  but  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  it  can  take  the  place  of  powder. 
Sore  gums  caused  by  an  artificial  plate  may  be  re- 
lieved by : — 

Tjl  Tannate  glycer  31 
aq.  dest.  §i 

M. 

For  offensive  breath. 


3 Potass  permang  gr.  x 
aq.  dest.fii 


M. 


CARE  OF  THE  TEETH.  97 

A good  general  mouth- wash  which  is  both  soothing, 
cleansing,  and  healing,  is  the  following : — 

3 

Chlor.  potass  3ii 
Acid  carbolic  3i 
Glycer  fi 
Alcoholis  fii 
Colognse  31 

M. 

s.  Shake  and  take  one  teaspoonful  in  a glass  of 
warm  water. 

In  connection  with  this,  lime-water,  as  previously 
mentioned,  or  Phillips’  milk  of  magnesia  should  be 
used  before  retiring.  Visit  the  dentist  at  least  twice 
during  the  year,  so  if  any  decay  makes  its  appearance 
it  can  be  arrested  by  polishing  or  suitable  filling.  As 
regards  the  materials  to  be  employed  for  filling,  the 
dentist  must  be  the  judge.  ' The  texture  and  position 
of  the  tooth  and  the  location  of  the  cavity  have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  selecting  the  proper  fill- 
ing material.  Should  accident  or  decay  remove  one 
half  or  more  of  the  crown,  the  pulp,  if  still  alive, 
should  be  destroyed  and  removed,  the  root  carefully 
filled  and  a crown  placed  on  it.  From  the  second 
bicuspid  back,  crowns  made  entirely  of  gold  should 
be  used,  because  they  are  strongest  and  protect  the 
root  best ; for  any  tooth  anterior  to  the  second  bicus- 


98  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

pid  use  either  a combination  gold  and  porcelain 
crown  or  one  composed  entirely  of  porcelain. 

When  decay  or  accident  has  destroyed  the  life  of 
the  pulp,  an  abscess  generally  follows,  and  if  not  prop- 
erly attended  to  may  lead  to  necrosis  of  the  bone 
and  loss  of  several  teeth  or  a bad  scar  on  the  face. 
The  tooth  should  be  opened,  the  dead  pulp  removed, 
the  canal  thoroughly  cleansed,  disinfected,  and  filled 
to  the  apex  with  oxychlorid  of  zinc  or  some  prepara- 
tion of  gutta  percha.  The  cavity  in  the  crown  can 
then  be  filled  with  some  suitable  material. 

Decay,  though  responsible  for  the  loss  of  a great 
many  teeth,  is  by  no  means  the  only,  nor  the  most 
potent  cause.  Before  the  age  of  twenty-five  years  de- 
cay holds  the  first  place  as  a cause,  but  after  that  time 
diseased  gums  claim  the  greater  number  of  victims. 
Unfortunately  space  does  not  permit  more  than  a 
mere  mention  of  this  subject.  Diseased  gums  are 
caused  by  local  irritants,  such  as  poorly  fitting  plates, 
crowns,  wedges,  ligatures,  the  too  rigorous  use  of 
stiff  toothbrushes,  tooth-powders  containing  charcoal 
or  pumice,  tooth-washes  having  irritating  ingredients, 
or  from  accumulated  tartar,  etc.  The  cause  recog- 
nized and  removed,  together  with  a soothing  wash, 
will  prove  all-sufficient  for  a cure.  If  caused  by 
medicine,  the  physician’s  attention  must  be  called  to 
it.  If  due  to  systemic  causes,  as  is  the  case  in 
pyorrhcea  alveolaris , both  internal  as  well  as  local 
means  have  to  be  employed. 


CAKE  OF  THE  TEETH. 


99 


Another  class  of  sore  gums  which  cannot  be  traced 
to  any  of  the  above  causes  is  that  known  as  pyorrhoea 
alveolaris  (meaning  a flow  of  pus  from  the  tooth 
socket).  Our  present  knowledge  on  the  subject 
leads  us  to  believe  that  systemic  causes  underlie  this 
condition.  The  gums  become  sore,  bleed  easily,  and 
on  slight  pressure  a drop  of  pus  may  be  seen  coming 
from  between  the  tooth  and  gum.  The  breath  be- 
comes offensive,  and  if  the  disease  is  not  checked  the 
gums  recede,  the  tooth  loosens  and  becomes  painful 
on  pressure,  and  finally  drops  out. 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS 


BY  GRACE  PECKHAM-MURRAY,  M.  D. 

THE  difficulty  of  telling  just  what  life  is  is 
the  difficulty  of  telling  what  sleep  is.  We 
all  experience  it,  and  know  what  it  is,  but 
why  it  is  who  can  say  ? Hippocrates  and  the  ancients 
thought  that  sleep  was  caused  by  the  increase  of  the 
blood  in  the  brain.  Abouty  thirty  years  ago,  an 
English  doctor  had  a patient  whose  skull  had  been 
injured,  and  a portion  of  the  brain  became  visible. 
He  found  that  the  brain  became  pale  when  the 
patient  was  sleeping.  He  then  made  elaborate  ex- 
periments on  animals  and  found  the  same  result. 
That  was  the  beginning  of  a great  deal  of  experi- 
menting with  reference  to  sleep.  Chemical  theories 
were  advanced : there  was  too  much  oxygen,  or  too 
little,  or  poisonous  substances  had  accumulated  ; 
others  said  that  sleep  was  occasioned  by  the  fall  of 
temperature,  and  very  many  other  ingenious  theo- 
ries were  advanced  to  account  for  the  phenomenon 
of  sleep.  Brown-Sequard  says  it  can  be  attributed 
to  none  of  these  causes,  since  a person  can  be  hypno- 
tized and  put  to  sleep  before  there  is  a chance  for 
the  blood  to  flow  to  or  from  the  brain ; before  there 
is  a chance  for  the  chemical  changes  to  occur  ; before 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS. 


101 


there  is  a chance  for  the  lowering  of  the  tempera- 
ture ; so  he  contents  himself  by  saying  that  it  is  an 
44  inhibition  of  cerebral  faculties.”  One  has  said 
that  44  death  is  a cessation  of  the  functions  of  life, 
while  sleep  is  a suspension  of  the  functions  of  life.” 
Whatever  the  cause,  it  is  sure  that  this  suspension 
of  functioning  which  takes  place  periodically  in  every 
individual  is  a necessity,  and  doubtless  has  its  origin 
in  the  necessity  of  repair  of  waste  in  the  organs  of 
the  system  which  cannot  be  attained  when  there  is 
continuous  activity.  However  it  is,  we  must  all 
sleep,  the  same  as  we  must  eat  and  drink,  or  we  can- 
not live.  It  is  estimated  that  the  longest  time  that 
a man  can  live  without  sleep  is  three  weeks ; his 
reason  has  fled  long  before  then. 

The  amount  of  sleep  required  by  the  individual 
varies  greatly.  The  infant  sleeps  nearly  all  the  time, 
the  child  should  sleep  half  of  the  time,  the  adolescent 
a third  of  the  time,  the  adult  seven  hours,  more  or 
less,  according  to  the  individual  need,  which  varies 
greatly  according  to  individual  idiosyncrasy  and  habit. 

The  time  of  sleep  is  also  another  question.  The 
chief  factor  in  the  process  of  going  to  sleep  is  the 
shutting  out  of  sights  ; this  is  done  more  easily  at 
night,  and  so  we  sleep  in  the  night ; then,  too,  is  the 
silence,  which  prevents  the  disturbance  of  the  audi- 
tory nerve.  Edison  is  reported  as  saying  that  man 
got  into  the  habit  of  sleeping  at  night,  because  in 
the  olden  time  when  there  were  no  lights  he  could 


102  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

not  see  to  do  anything ; therefore  there  was  nothing 
left  for  him  but  to  sleep.  The  belief  is  popular  that 
the  night  sleep  is  the  most  beneficial,  but  the  miners, 
who  work  constantly  in  the  mines  with  so  many 
hours  on  and  so  many  hours  off,  regardless  of  day  or 
night,  sleep  just  as  well  as  if  their  time  of  repose 
were  constantly  in  the  night.  The  system  must  have 
its  period  of  rest  once  in  so  often.  If  the  amount 
of  sleep  necessary  for  the  individual  is  obtained,  it 
makes  no  difference,  in  my  opinion,  at  what  time  in 
the  twenty-four  hours  it  is  taken.  Sleep  is  so  much 
a matter  of  habit  that  if  it  is  not  taken  with  regu- 
larity at  stated  intervals  it  may  not  come  when  bid- 
den, and  insomnia  may  result. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  understand  what  occasions 
dreams.  They  are  the  ungoverned  activity  of  the 
brain.  Some  writers  contend  that  there  is  never 
sleep  without  dreams.  Dreamless  slumber  would 
imply  an  entire  suspension  of  the  psychical  function- 
ing of  the  brain.  Descartes  has  said : “ Je  pense , 
done  je  suis .”  If  one  .should  not  think,  then  he 
would  cease  to  exist,  according  to  this  philosophy. 
Bain,  in  his  “ Physical  Basis  of  the  Brain,”  claims 
that  for  every  impression  that  has  been  or  is  to  be 
received  in  the  brain  there  is  a corresponding  ner- 
vous cell,  and  an  impression  once  received  is  forever 
stored  up  in  the  brain.  In  our  sleep  these  cells  are 
called  into  activity  by  some  suggestion  from  without 
or  from  within,  and  a whole  train  of  connected  cir- 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS.  103 

cumstances  occurs.  Years  ago,  I began  to  study 
the  relation  of  dreams  to  disease.  Since  that  time  - 
a large  number  of  books  have  been  written  on  this 
subject,  but  I never  wrote  mine,  for  I found  that  the 
relation  between  diseased  conditions  and  dreams 
existed  only  on  the  widest  grounds,  and  suggested 
nothing  more  definite  than  that  found  in  all  states. 
Much  reading  of  the  literature  on  this  subject  con- 
firms my  views.  A pain,  a pressure,  a sensation 
in  any  part  of  the  body  turns  brain  activity  in  that 
direction,  and  there  results  a dream  plainly  trace- 
able to  it.  The  illustrations  are  so  numerous  and 
familiar  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  cite  them. 

If  the  wind  blows  upon  one  in  sleep  it  arouses  a 
dream  of  sailing  in  the  wind,  or  travelling  swiftly, 
or  as  many  possibilities  of  dreams  as  you  can  think 
of  while  you  read  this.  So  with  heat,  so  with 
noises,  so  with  perfumes,  and  these  dreams  are  apt  to 
be  shaped  by  the  last  thoughts  that  have  impressed 
the  brain  in  its  waking  moments. 

One  does  not  fully  realize  the  power  of  the  brain 
to  work  during  sleep, — the  unconscious  cerebration. 
The  brain  assorts  impressions  and  arranges  them, 
A celebrated  pianist,  who  always  played  in  public, 
without  notes,  once  told  me  that  the  difficult  and 
complicated  piece  of  music  which  she  had  been  trying 
to  commit  to  memory  in  the  evening  became  fixed  in 
her  brain  while  she  was  asleep,  and  in  the  morning  she 
found  that  she  had  learned  it  perfectly,  never  to  for- 


104  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

get  it.  The  mathematician  solves  his  problem  while 
asleep  and  unconscious  that  his  mind  is  working. 

A nightmare  is  a dream  occasioned  by  impeded  res- 
piration, caused  by  a weight  upon  the  chest,  a 
pressure  upon  the  diaphragm  of  a stomach  filled  with 
gas  or  undigested  food ; the  person  cannot  breathe, 
and  the  alarming  dream  results. 

The  most  mysterious  and  interesting  of  all  the 
states  of  sleep  is  somnambulism.  It  will  be  easily 
understood  if  one  remembers  that  the  somnambulist 
is  not  only  one  who  dreams,  but  one  who  has  power 
to  move  and  to  execute  the  ideas  and  suggestions  of 
his  dreams.  The  marvellous  part  of  somnambulism 
is  the  fact  that  the  senses  are  so  acute  in  the  sleeping 
state  that  the  somnambulist  can  avoid  objects  which 
would  impede  his  progress,  and  balance  himself  in 
perilous  places  with  a nicety  and  precision  of  which 
he  would  not  be  capable  in  the  waking  state. 

Is  it  unhealthy  to  dream  ? Dreams  signify  a sleep 
that  is  not  profound.  The  trouble  in  estimating  the 
influence  of  dreams  on  the  sleep  of  the  individual  is 
in  computing  the  length  of  time  they  occupy.  One 
can  dream,  it  would  seem  to  be  interminably, 
when  in  reality  the  amount  of  time  occupied  in 
dreaming  is  comparatively  insignificant.  It  has 
already  been  intimated  that  there  is  no  essential  re- 
lationship between  dreams  and  disease.  If  a person 
who  is  accustomed  to  dream  rarely  begins  to  dream, 
and  is  consciously  disturbed  by  it,  attention  should 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS. 


105 


be  paid  to  the  circumstance.  It  shows  that  the  per- 
son is  becoming  nervous,  and  some  light  sedative 
should  be  taken  at  night,  or  a change  should 
be  made  in  the  habits  of  diet  and  exercise.  Som- 
nambulism represents  an  excited  state  of  the  brain, 
which  does  not  yield  to  the  soothing  influence  of 
sleep.  The  danger  is  from  awakening  suddenly  in 
a perilous  place  or  position,  which  would  result  in 
an  accident.  The  somnambulist  should  apply  to  the 
physician  for  quieting  medicines  and  nerve-tonics. 
The  remedy  for  nightmare  is  so  well  known  that 
it  needs  only  to  be  referred  to : that  of  controlling 
the  diet  and  any  temporary  condition  which  would 
impede  respiration. 

Two  conditions  in  relation  to  sleep  are  abnormal, — 
drowsiness,  or  narcolepsy,  and  insomnia. 

Drowsiness  in  excess  is  not  a usual  disease ; still  it 
does  occur  in  some  nervous  states,  in  malarial 
troubles,  and  in  people  whose  blood  is  poor  (senemic), 
while  insomnia  is  one  of  the  most  common  of  com- 
plaints. 

The  causes  of  insomnia  are  numerous, — weakness 
from  debilitating  disease,  nervous  states,  as  neuras- 
thenia and  insanity,  gout,  too  frequent  use  of  stim- 
ulants, but  far  out-balancing  and  out-reaching  all 
the  other  causes  are  worry  and  overwork.  It  is 
the  universal  experience  of  doctors  that  most  patients 
who  complain  of  sleeplessness  sleep  much  better  than 
they  think  they  do.  The  proof  of  it  is  in  the  fact 


106  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

of  their  comparative  health.  Some  people  are  what 
Dr.  Wier-Mitchell  calls  somnomaniacs.  They  watch 
themselves  and  their  symptoms  in  such  a way  as  to 
preclude  sleep. 

Sleeplessness  is  a perverse  habit,  as  some  one  has 
said,  “ the  result  of  years,  perhaps  generations  of 
misuse  of  the  body  and  brain.’’  One  must,  therefore, 
overcome  the  perverse  habit  with  the  habit  of  sleepi- 
ness. A great  deal  can  be  accomplished  by  regular 
hours,  regular  diet,  regular  exeJcise,  together  with 
the  expectancy  of  sleep,  and  cessation  of  hurry, 
worry,  and  overwork. 

The  medicines  which  are  used  as  sleep-producers 
are  many,  but  they  should  be  used,  if  at  all,  with 
care,  and  under  the  guidance  and  direction  of  a 
physician.  The  modern  remedies,  antipyrine,  paral- 
dehyde, phenacetine,  sulphonal,  besides  a host  of 
other  remedies  advertised  and  recommended  com- 
posed of  these,  with  the  addition  of  bromides  and 
chloral  hydrates,  opium,  and  morphine,  act  by  de- 
pressing the  nervous  force,  and  are  far  more  dan- 
gerous than  a few  sleepless  nights.  I have  seen  a 
number  of  patients  who  have  been  sufferers  from 
these  drugs  who  have  formed  habits  of  taking  them 
which  have  undermined  the  patients’  health,  making 
them  physical  and  mental  wrecks,  and  giving  them 
heart  troubles  which  must  shorten  their  lives.  In 
most  cases  which  I have  seen,  the  drugs  have  been 
taken  upon  the  recommendation  and  insistence  of 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS.  107 

friends,  who  little  realize  how  much  trouble  they  are 
responsible  for.  I.t  should  be  the  invariable  rule  that 
no  person  should  recommend  any  medicine  to  an- 
other without  medical  knowledge.  No  one  but  a 
doctor  knows  the  trouble  that  arises  from  this  well- 
meant  and  universal  custom.  If  you  are  too  sleep- 
less to  get  on  without  drugs,  go  to  a physician ; 
your  case  needs  attention,  but  do  not  be  too  much 
afraid  of  a few  sleepless  nights. 

In  natural  sleep  the  eyes  are  closed  and  the  sight 
becomes  sealed  ; next  is  lost  the  sense  of  touch,  then 
tasting  and  smelling ; the  last  sentinel  to  yield  the 
watch  is  hearing,  and  the  first  to  be  aroused.  In 
wooing  sleep,  this  should  be  remembered.  Cover 
the  ears  so  that  they  will  not  hear  noises.  It  is  only 
the  clockmaker  who  cannot  sleep  without  the  noise 
of  his  clocks,  or  the  miller  who  sighs  for  the  contin- 
ual whirring  of  Iris  wheel. 

Sometimes  persons  do  not  sleep  because  they  are 
exhausted  from  the  lack  of  food.  In  such  cases  a 
little  food  or  a glass  of  milk  may  be  taken  upon  re- 
tiring. Persons  troubled  with  insomnia  should  give 
special  attention  to  the  manner  in  which  they  spend 
their  evenings.  Exciting  reading  or  conversation 
and  anything  which  causes  mental  activity  should 
be  avoided,  especially  such  subjects  or  occupations 
as  are  likely  to  cause  trouble  or  worry.  By  close 
observation  a person  can  soon  learn  what  occupa- 
tions for  the  evening  are  favorable  for  sleep  and 


108  TALKS  TJPOX  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

what  unfavorable,  and  can  regulate  Iris  conduct 
accordingly. 

A great  sleep-producer  is  the  warm  bath  taken 
before  retiring,  remaining  in  it  twenty  minutes. 
This  should  not  be  repeated  too  frequently,  as  it 
will  cause  debility. 

Learn  to  control  your  thoughts  upon  seeking 
slumber  $ instead  of  planning  work  for  the  next  day 
and  going  through  the  exciting  events  of  the  day 
that  is  past,  think  of  that  which  is  delightful  and 
pleasant.  As  sleep  is  the  cessation  of  mental  activ- 
ity, and  insomnia  is  due  to  over-activity  of  the  brain, 
try  to  exhaust  this  over-activity  on  something  monot- 
onous and  difficult  of  attention.  On  this  principle, 
counting  has  been  used,  and  trying  to  number  a flock 
of  imaginary  sheep  as  they  go  over  an  imaginary 
wall.  A very  good  mental  sedative  of  this  kind  is 
to  recall  a distant  journey  which  you  have  taken. 
Begin  at  the  beginning  and  go  over  it,  trying  to 
bring  back  the  minutest  details.  You  can  produce  a 
kind  of  self-hypnotism  by  relaxing  your  body  com- 
pletely, and  rolling  up  the  eyeballs,  and  converging 
vision  towards  the  nose,  as  if  trying  to  look  at  some- 
thing above  and  near  it. 

Electricity  is  a good  sedative,  but  it  must  be  the 
constant  current,  and  not  the  faradic,  or  buzzing 
current ; with  the  positive  pole  placed  at  the  base 
of  the  neck,  while  the  negative  is  placed. at  the  base 
of  the  spine.  The  current  should  be  so  gentle  as 


SLEEP  AND  DREAMS. 


109 


to  be  scarcely  felt,  and  be  used  twenty  minutes  before 
retiring.  Few  people  have  the  battery,  but  one  can 
be  hired,  and  a physician  can  tell  you  how  to  use  it. 
It  is  a good  tonic  as  well  as  sleep-producer.  A mus- 
tard paste  applied  on  the  nape  of  the  neck  until  the 
skin  is  slightly  reddened  is  useful  as  an  equalizer  of 
circulation  which  will  bring  sleep. 

To  sum  up,  then,  try  everything  but  drugs  for  your 
sleeplessness.  If  you  need  them  go  to  a physician. 
Try  fixing  your  thoughts  in  all  the  little  ways  that  you 
have  ever  heard  of.  Use  baths,  electricity,  exercise, 
tire  out  the  muscles.  Pay  attention  to  the  stomach, 
that  it  is  not  overloaded  or  empty.  Be  determined 
that  you  will  sleep,  with  a restful,  and  not  a militant 
determination. 

Your  sleeping-room  should  be  moderately  cool,  not 
cold,  the  air  fresh ; do  not  be  afraid  of  pure  night  air. 
Sleep  on  the  bed  that  pleases  you  most.  It  is  a matter 
of  habit  and  individual  preference  whether  you  have  a 
soft  bed  or  a hard  bed.  You  would  better  get  used 
to  a hard  bed,  and  then  you  will  be  the  better  prepared 
for  travelling.  The  covering  should  be  warm  and 
light.  The  pillow  should  be  soft  and  not  too  large. 
Soft,  so  that  it  can  be  moulded  to  meet  your  requisites, 
and  rather  small,  because  the  head  should  be  low.*  It 
is  better  for  the  circulation  and  will  keep  the  back 
straight  to  sleep  on  a low  pillow.  You  may  come 
to  prefer  no  pillow  at  all,  which  would  be  well.  A 
bolster  will  become  an  anachronism  after  awhile. 


CLOTHING, 


/ 

/ 


BY  IRA  DE  YER  WARNER,  M.  D. 

THE  subject  of  healthful  clothing  should  re- 
ceive the  careful  attention  of  every  woman 
who  regards  health  as  the  greatest  blessing 
bestowed  upon  mankind.  To  clothe  the  body 
properly,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  functions  of 
vital  organs,  and  at  the  same  time  to  protect  the  out- 
side of  the  body  from  external  influences,  is  not  an 
easy  problem,  and  yet  it  can  be  done  without  making 
a “guy”  of  the  woman,  or  violating  any  of  the 
severe  mandates  of  fashion.  Many  of  the  health 
reformers  have  from  time  to  time  instigated  a crusade 
against  existing  fashions,  but  their  demands  have 
been  so  radical  that  few  have  had  the  moral 
courage  to  adopt  them,  and  these  few  have  soon 
returned  to  their  first  love.  There  is  no  probability 
that  woman  will  materially  change  her  present  style 
of  dress  for  many  years  to  come,  nor  is  there  any 
valid  reason  why  she  should.  For  hundreds  of  years 
civilized  women  have  dressed  practically  as  they  do 
to-day.  Fashions  change  in  minor  details,  but  the 
general  style  of  dress  for  women  remains  unchanged. 

Great  advancements  have  been  made  in  many 
features  of  clothing  during  the  past  fifty  years,  and 


no 


CLOTHING.  Ill 

the  intelligent  woman  of  to-day  is  dressed  far  better 
than  her  grandmother  and  great-grandmother. 

The  principal  object  of  clothing  is  to  preserve  an 
even  temperature  of  the  body  to  protect  it  against 
changes  in  the  temperature  of  the  external  air.  One 
of  the  most  common  causes  of  illness  we  have  in 
this  country  is  a cold  resulting  from  suddenly  check- 
ing the  perspiration  of  the  body.  A cold  is  often 
regarded  as  of  slight  consequence,  but  it  is  the  fore- 
runner of  many  serious  diseases ; catarrh,  bronchitis, 
sore  throat,  tonsilitis,  consumption,  asthma,  rheuma- 
tism, and  many  other  diseases  that  might  be  men- 
tioned are  often  precipitated  by  a common  cold. 
No  one  thing  can  help  more  to  prevent  colds  than 
proper  clothing.  The  skin  is  one  of  the  great  eliminat- 
ing organs  of  the  body.  Nearly  one  half  of  all  the 
fluids  we  take  into  the  body  pass  off  through  the  skin. 
If  it  becomes  chilled  or  deranged  in  any  manner,  the 
whole  body  is  affected,  and  the  weakest  part  is  attacked 
by  the  disease.  It  is  important,  then,  that  the  skin 
be  kept  as  near  a uniform  temperature  as  possible. 
Nothing  will  do  this  so  well  as  clothing  made  of 
pure  wool  worn  next  to  the  skin.  Wool  is  porous 
and  filled  with  cells  containing  air  which  help  to 
preserve  an  even  temperature  of  the  body,  and  in 
this  way  prevent  the  skin  from  becoming  suddenly 
chilled  when  going  from  a heated  to  a cold  room, 
or  when  exposed  to  draughts  of  air.  Persons  who 
are  young  and  vigorous  and  have  a surplus  of 


112  TALKS  UPON  PBACTICAL  SUBJECTS.  /.. 

vitality  may  endure  these  sudden  changes  without 
great  risk,  but  all  persons  who  have  any  weak  organ 
or  are  deficient  in  vitality  should  wear  flannel  or 
woollen  next  to  the  skin  summer  and  winter.  The 
underclothing  is  of  far  more  importance  to  the  health 
than  the  outer  clothing.  If  the  skin  be  properly 
clothed  and  protected,  the  wearer’s  own  fancy  and 
taste  can  be  indulged  in  the  selection  of  outer  gar- 
ments. 

One  great  objection  to  woollen  undergarments  is 
the  tendency  to  shrink  and  “full  up”  when  washed. 
W e can  but  admit  that  this  is  a serious  obstacle,  but 
this  can  be  obviated  to  a large  extent  by  careful 
washing.  The  following  rules  for  washing,  furnished 
by  a celebrated  cloth  manufacturer,  have  been  thor- 
oughly tested,  and  after  long  experience  have  been 
found  to  be  excellent. 

First.  Put  the  garments  in  clean,  warm  suds 
(taking  care  that  the  water  is  not  too  hot),  and  to 
about  four  gallons  of  water  add  two  tablespoonfuls 
of  the  best  liquid  ammonia,  which  will  at  once  remove 
all  grease  and  perspiration.  Second.  Avoid  rubbing. 
Third.  Wash  out  quickly,  drawing  the  garment 
through  the  hand,  and  after  lightly  wringing,  pass 
them  through  two  separate  quantities  of  lukewarm 
water.  Fourth.  Dry  immediately,  and,  if  possible, 
in  the  open  air.  Washing  out  quickly  is  particularly 
advised,  as  it  prevents  shrinking. 

Silk  has  often  been  recommended  as  equal  to  flan- 


CLOTHING. 


113 


nel  for  underwear,  but  long  experience  has  proved 
the  fallacy  of  the  belief.  Next  to  wool,  silk  is  with- 
out doubt  the  best  material.  Cotton  has  the  third 
place,  and  the  last  in  the  line  is  linen,  which  is 
least  desirable  of  all. 

For  one  whose  skin  is  very  sensitive,  a compromise 
can  be  made  by  wearing  garments  made  of  a mixture 
of  silk  and.  wool,  but  the  more  wool  the  better.  Very 
excellent  underwear  may  also  be  made  by  mixing 
twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  of  cotton  with  the  wool ; 
it  shrinks  less  and  answers  nearly  every  purpose  of 
all  wool,  but  the  greater  cheapness  of  cotton  is  a 
temptation  to  the  unprincipled  manufacturer.  The 
only  guarantee  the  public  can  have  is  to  buy  goods 
of  well-established  brands.  Much  of  the  underwear 
in  the  market  claiming  to  be  wool  is  nine  tenths 
cotton,  and  the  little  wool  it  does  contain  is  of  a short 
staple  and  inferior  quality.  A garment  made  of  long 
staple  wool,  like  the  Australian,  is  less  liable  to 
shrinkage  than  the  short  staple,  which  must  be  carded 
with  that  of  better  quality  to  be  used.  But  such 
garments  are  much  more  expensive  and  a luxury. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  time  will  soon  come  when  the 
masses  will  be  given  better  garments  at  a reasonable 
price,  and  that  cheap,  shoddy  goods  will  be  a thing 
or  the  past. 

Without  doubt  the  best  constructed  undergarment 
for  a woman  to  wear,  whether  made  of  silk  or  wool, 
is  the  union  or  “combination”  underwear  where 


114  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

vest  and  drawers  are  made  in  one  piece,  covering  the 
body  from  the  extremities  to  the  neck  with  a single 
garment.  No  one  who  has  not  worn  this  article  of 
underwear  can  know  the  comfort  derived  from  it. 

No  clothing  should  be  left  on  at  night  which  has 
been  worn  during  the  daytime ; and  the  day  cloth- 
ing should  be  thoroughly  aired  by  night,  and  the 
night  clothing  by  day.  Many  women  will  find  the 
soft  woollen  garments  at  night  very  valuable  ; they 
ward  off  colds,  and  enable  one  to  sleep  in  a well-ven- 
tilated room  with  less  danger  of  exposure. 

It  is  a fortunate  thing  for  women  that  light 
flannel  underskirts  have  taken  the  place  of  the  heavy 
padded  quilts  once  so  generally  worn ; they  are  not 
only  much  lighter  and  more  comfortable,  but  are 
really  warmer  and  a greater  protection  against 
changes  of  temperature.  It  is  not  weight  of  clothing 
that  gives  warmth  and  protection,  but  the  nature  of 
the  material.  In  this  climate,  where  the  thermome- 
ter notes  changes  of  forty  degrees  in  twenty-four 
hours,  a severe  test  is  laid  upon  one’s  vitality,  but  if 
properly  clothed  we  can  protect  ourselves  so  that  the 
danger  will  be  reduced  to  the  minimum.  Many  who 
have  the  means  and  little  else  to  do  but  spend  the 
time  migrating  from  one  country  to  another  and 
from  place  to  place,  in  search  of  genial  suns  and 
healthful  climes,  might  find  health  at  their  own  door 
if  clothed  properly  and  allowed  to  breathe  the  pure 
air  that  they  so  carefully  exclude  from  their  own 


CLOTHING. 


115 


overheated  and  ill-ventilated  houses.  Clothe  your- 
self properly,  then  you  may  safely  breathe  the  air 
that  you  meet,  whatever  the  elements  or  season. 

. While  the  body  needs  to  be  well  guarded  by  suit- 
able clothing,  the  head  and  neck  need  but  slight 
protection.  As  far  as  health  is  concerned,  if  we  all 
went' bareheaded,  we  would  be  as  well  oft,  except 
that  it  is  prudent  to  protect  the  head  against  the 
extreme  cold  in  winter,  and  from  the  rays  of  the  sun 
in  summer. 

A woman  seldom  takes  cold  except  in  bitterly  cold 
weather  by  exposing  the  head,  unless  she  be  already 
delicate  or  feeble.  The  head  should  be  kept  cool  and 
the  feet  warm.  The  custom  with  women  of  muffling 
the  neck  in  thick  furs  and  other  warm  material  is 
injurious,  and  helps  to  produce  colds  rather  than 
prevent  them.  The  neck  is  thus  given  a Turkish 
bath,  and  when  the  muffling  is  removed  the  throat 
is  chilled.  Even  persons  who  have  a tendency  to 
sore  throat,  quinsy,  and  tonsilitis  would  better  let 
the  pure  air  play  around  the  neck,  except  in  sting- 
ing cold  weather,  and  then  the  wraps  should  be 
removed  at  once  on  entering  a room.  One  of  Brown- 
Sequard’s  favorite  prescriptions  for  weak  and  debil- 
itated throats  was  to  force  upon  the  neck  and  throat 
a stream  of  cold  air  by  means  of  a bellows.  Why 
not  let  nature  do  this,  and  do  away  with  the  bellows  ? 

The  habit  of  wearing  fur  garments  over  the  outer 
clothing  in  railroad  cars,  theatres,  halls,  or  any 


116  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

indoor  place  is  extremely  bad,  as  it  overheats  the 
body  and  places  the  wearer  in  a veritable  sweating- 
box.  Snch  wraps  should  be  worn  only  in  driving  in 
extremely  cold  weather,  and  should  not  be  used 
habitually  as  outer  garments.  Woollen  or  silk  is 
far  preferable  for  ordinary  use.  Dressing  too  warmly 
may  be  as  injurious  as  not  to  wear  enough  covering. 
No  inflexible  rule  can  be  given,  but  a woman  should 
adapt  her  dress  to  the  weather  of  each  day.  It  is  not 
safe  to  travel  without  having  underwear,  as  well  as 
other  clothing,  of  different  weights  to  meet  any 
condition.  When  the  air  is  soft  and  mild,  whatever 
the  season  of  the  year,  a woman  does  not  need  to 
dress  as  she  would  for  a winter  blizzard.  Good 
judgment  and  common  sense  will  decide  in  the  matter. 

If  there  is  any  one  command  more  than  another 
that  I should  like  the  privilege  of  enjoining  upon  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  young  and  old,  male, 
and  female,  which  would,  I believe,  contribute  most 
to  the  health  and  happiness  of  mankind,  it  would  be 
this  — “ Wear  woollens  /”  Light,  thin,  and  soft  in 
summer,  warm  and  comfortable  in  winter.  Begin 
right ; protect  the  skin  with  proper  clothing,  then 
satisfy  your  own  fancy  and  taste  as  to  what  you 
wear  outside  of  this. 

HOW  SHALL  WE  CLOTH  THE  WAIST  ? 

How  shall  we  clothe  the  waist?  No  part  of  the 
body  has  been  the  cause  of  more  controversy  than 


CLOTHING. 


117 


that  to  which  this  question  refers.  Reformers  have 
sprung  up  all  oyer  the  country  periodically  for  the 
past  sixty  years,  claiming  that  all  the  ills  and  difficul- 
ties that  feminine  flesh  is  heir  to  haye  arisen  from 
the  wearing  of  corsets.  And  yet,  with  all  this  agita- 
tion, the  fact  still  remains  that  seventy-five  per  cent 
of  the  women  of  civilized  countries  wear  corsets,  and 
the  rest  usually  wear  corsets,  only  under  other  names. 
Will  any  dress  reformer  explain  to  me  the  difference 
between  a corset  that  is  called  a corset  and  a waist 
that  is  theoretically  made  with  cords,  but  which 
really  contains  steels  in  front,  sides,  and  back  that 
are  quite  as  heavy  and  rigid  as  a properly  constructed 
corset?  The  reformer  appeases  her  conscience  by 
having  the  so-called  waist  buttoned  in  front,  but  at  the 
same  time  places  a heavy  steel  in  a casing  just 
behind  it.  ^ 

The  dress  waist  with  its  stiff  whalebones  and 
steels  is  in  every  respect  the  equivalent  of  a corset, 
except  that  it  is  not  usually  as  soft  and  pliable  and 
does  not  conform  as  accurately  to  the  natural  contour 
of  the  body.  If  a woman  is  determined  to  lace  she 
can  do  it  as  effectively  with  a waist  or  with  the 
bodice  of  a dress  as  with  a corset ; or  she  can  do  it 
without  either  by  wearing  her  skirt  bands  fastened 
tightly  around  her  waist,  and  thereby  girding  the 
body  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  free  circulation  of 
the  blood,  and  at  the  same  time  dragging  down  the 
natural  organs  out  of  their  normal  places.  Is  it  not 


118  TALKS  TTPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

possible  that  what  is  needed  is  to  reform  the  corset 
rather  than  to  substitute  for  it  other  styles  of  “ waist 
compressors  ’ ’ which  are  open  to  even  greater  objec- 
tions ? Sensible  women  (and  to-day  these  are  legion) 
do  not  lace  tightly  ; and  if  a corset  is  properly  con- 
structed so  as  to  fit  every  part  of  the  body  and  not 
to  press  upon  any  one  organ  more  than  another,  it 
is  a source  of  comfort  and  not  torture.  The  corset 
furnishes  the  foundation  for  proper  dressing.  No 
woman  wishes  to  look  like  a shapeless  dowdy.  To 
obtain  a smooth  and  artistic  fitting  dress  waist  she 
must  have  the  proper  foundation  to  build  on,  and 
nothing  furnishes  this  better  than  a light,  smoothly 
fitting  corset  that  conforms  to  every  line  of  the  body. 
Every  dressmaker  understands  this  fact;  and  if  her 
customer  will  not  wear  a corset  she  proceeds  to  con- 
vert the  dress  w'aist  into  a corset  with  bones,  steels, 
and  padding,  until  it  gives  the  requisite  support  to 
prevent  wrinkling.  The  time  was  when  this  was 
done  with  pieces  of  stiff  hickory  wood  which  encased 
the  waist  like  an  armor  plate.  At  one  time,  also, 
corsets  were  made  in  the  same  manner ; some  even 
were  stiffened  with  heavy  steel  or  wooden  “splints,” 
as  our  grandmothers  called  them.  These  corsets  had 
no  opening  in  front,  and  required  the  assistance  of 
an  athlete  to  lace  them  up  in  the  back,  at  the  same 
time  compressing  the  ribs,  diaphragm,  liver,  and 
Other  organs  so  as  to  bring  the  figure  to  the  required 
shape  of  the  self-constituted  artist.  All  this  (hap- 


CLOTHING. 


119 


pily  for  this  generation  and  the  next)  is  past  history, 
and  the  women  of  to-day  no  longer  practise  such 
self-torture.  And,  yet,  among  a few  the  tirade 
against  the  corset  goes  on  as  though  we  were  still 
living  in  the  times  of  our  foremothers. 

W omen  will  wear  corsets ; they  always  have,  and 
they  always  will.  We  may  as  well  consider  this  a 
settled  fact.  There  are  good  and  sufficient  reasons 
why  they  are  a necessity  to  the  women  who  dress  as 
civilized  women  have  for  the  past  two  hundred 
years.  If  you  were  to  change  the  dress  of  woman 
radically,  they  might  be  dispensed  with  ; but  this  is 
not  our  province.  Fashion  dictates  what  a woman 
shall  wear,  and  her  demands  will  be  complied  with  ; it 
is  our  duty  to  adapt  garments  to  the  wants  of  women. 

Here  is  our  maxim : A perfectly  fitting  corset 
is  the  foundation  for  artistic  dressing.  This  does  not 
imply' that  the  corset  should  be  worn  so  tight  as  to 
contract  the  waist  to  an  abnormally  small  size.  True 
beauty  combines  symmetry  with  proportion.  Broad 
shoulders  and  prominent  hips,  combined  with  an 
abnormally  small,  wasp-like  waist,  present  a figure 
that  is  a monstrosity.  If  such  a waist  is  natural  the 
woman  should  take  the  necessary  means  to  develop 
and  correct  it,  and  bring  it  to  the  proper  proportions 
of  the  rest  of  the  body.  An  abnormally  small  foot 
on  a large  body  is  no  mark  of  beauty,  but,  rather, 
otherwise.  The  same  rule  holds  true  regarding  the 
waist. 


120  TALKS  TJPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

The  French  women  are  admitted  to  he  the  best 
dressed  in  the  world,  even  the  middle  classes.  It  is 
not  the  richness  and  costliness  of  the  materials  that 
attract  one,  but  perfect  harmony  in  coloring  and 
symmetry  of  form.  Hence,  among  fashionable 
women  French  corsets  have  been  in  great  demand, 
but  do  you  know  that  not  a single  French  corset  ever 
finds  its  way  to  the  counter  of  an  American  mer- 
chant ? The  French  corsets  sold  in  America  are 
made  especially  for  the  American  market,  and  to 
please  the  taste  of  American  buyers.  If  you  buy  a 
corset  at  a shop  in  France,  you  get  the  French  shape. 
The  French  women  would  not  wear  those  that  are 
sold  here.  They  are  not  their  ideal.  I have  visited 
their  factories  in  France,  and  they  show  you  the 
American  room  where  nothing  but  corsets  for  the 
American  trade  is  made. 

The  French  woman  has  learned  that  a dress  can 
be  long  waisted  without  the  corset  itself  being  of 
undue  length,  a fact  the  American  woman  has  not 
yet  learned.  The  French  woman  has  learned  that 
the  best  and  most  desirable  material  for  a corset  is 
fine  soft  coutil,  while  the  American  woman  prefers 
the  more  showy  but  less  durable  satteen.  The  real 
French  corsets  are  short  both  above  and  below  the' 
waist  line,  but  no  sacrifice  is  made  to  the  long,  trim 
waist  effect,  which  so  many  ladies  desire.  These  are 
facts  which  many  American  women  have  yet  to  learn, 
but  they  are  learning  them  slowly. 


CLOTHING. 


121 


Another  advantage  the  French  makers  have  had 
until  recent  years  is  that  their  corsets  are  mostly 
made  to  order,  and  thus  are  fitted  to  living  models, 
instead  of  being  fitted  to  rigid  figures  of  wood  or 
plaster  of  Paris.  The  makers  fit  them  to  the  women 
who  are  to  \Vear  them,  and  in  so  doing  have  corrected 
many  defects.  Americans  are  quick-witted  and  apt, 
and  to-day  the  same  methods  are  adopted  in  America, 
and  no  corset  is  placed  upon  the  market  until  it  has 
been  several  times  tested  upon  the  living  model  of 
the  exact  figure  it  is  designed  to  fit.  The  advance- 
ment in  corset-making  which  has  been  made  in  this 
country  during  the  past  eight  years  is  something 
marvellous,  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  declare  that 
corsets  of  equal  workmanship  and  as  good  fitting  as 
the  best  “ French  make  ” are  made  in  this  country 
•by  several  manufacturers  and  put  upon  the  market  at 
a less  price  than  the  foreign.  This  statement  could 
not  have  been  made  fifteen  years  ago ; but  many  of  the 
improvements  in  corset-making  are  carried  from  this 
country  to  others,  and  are  rapidly  adopted  by  them. 

Many  misfits  in  corsets  arise  from  the  ignorance  of 
the  women  who  buy.  Either  from  a lack  of  knowledge 
or  a desire  to  look  like  some  figure  they  admire,  but 
do  not  possess,  they  buy  corsets  that  were  never 
made  for  them  and  will  never  fit  them.  If  a woman 
who  is  short  and  stout  buys  a corset  made  for  a tall, 
slim  figure,  it  cannot  possibly  fit  her,  but  it  will  fit 
the  woman  for  whom  it  was  made.  This  is  a point 


122  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

women  must  study  carefully  in  selecting  tlieir  corsets. 
The  maker  who  studies  to  fit  his  customers  carefully 
and  properly  makes  a variety  of  shapes  and  patterns 
to  fit  every  variety  of  figure,  differing  not  only  in 
the  length  of  waist,  but  in  hip  and  bust  measure- 
ments. For  instance : A short,  stout,  matronly 

woman  buys  a long-waisted  corset,  made  for  a tall 
figure  with  large  hips  and  bust  measurements.  She 
attempts  to  get  into  this  corset;  in  doing  so  she 
crowds  down  the  liver  and  intestines ; they  must  go 
somewhere,  and  so  they  are  forced  below  the  long 
waist  line  of  the  corset,  giving  an  unnatural  and  un- 
due prominence  to  the  stomach.  Add  to  this  the 
natural  settling  down  of  the  whole  body,  with  the 
shoulders  thrown  abnormally  back  to  maintain 
the  penter  of  gravity,  and  we  have  a figure  that  to 
the  average  observer  is  anything  but  artistic,  and  yet 
one  that  is  met  with  every  day  in  fashionable  society. 
All  this  can  be  avoided  by  a properly  constructed 
corset,  made  short  in  the  waist  line,  but  long  in  front, 
going  well  over  the  hips  and  stomach,  so  as  to  confine 
the  figure  and  give  support  and  symmetry  to  the 
whole  body. 

This  is  but  a single  illustration  of  what  really  fit- 
ting a corset  to  the  figure  means.  The  desirable 
figure  so  longed  for  and  sought  after  can  be  obtained 
without  destroying  or  deforming  any  part  of  the  body. 

Another  common  fault  is  that  women  often  buy  a 
corset  one  or  two  numbers  smaller  than  will  fit  them 


CLOTHING. 


123 


properly.  You  can  readily  see  that  if  a corset  is  left 
open  five  or  six  inches  in  the  hack  the  whole  design 
is  spoiled  and  it  cannot  fit  properly.  The  natural 
fulness  designed  to  go  over  the  hips  is  thrown  in  front 
of  them,  where  fulness  is  not  needed;  the  fulness 
back  of  the  hips  is  on  the  side ; the  shoulder  blade  is 
not  properly  supported,  and  the  entire  plan  of  the 
maker  is  thwarted.  It  does  not  fit ; if  she  wears  it,  it 
will  not  give  her  ease  and  comfort,  neither  will  it 
wear  as  long  as  it  should,  for  a corset  must  fit  to 
wear  properly.  She  condemns  the  corset  and  the 
maker.  As  well  might  a man  try  to  wear  a coat 
made  for  a person  two  or  three  sizes  smaller. 

A corset  when  first  tried  on  should  be  left  open 
from  one  to  one  and  one  half  inches  in  the  back ; 
after  wearing  a few  days  it  should  not  stretch  more 
than  one  half  inch ; then  it  will  be  open  from  one 
to  two  inches  in  the  back. 

Few  women  know  how  to  lace  a corset  properly. 
When  first  tried  on  it  is  better  to  have  the  help  of  an 
intelligent  assistant.  Many  ladies  are  in  the  habit  of 
beginning  the  lacing  from  the  bottom,  leaving  the 
corset  well  open  at  the  top.  This  practice  is  wrong, 
and  is  not  necessary  if  the  corset  is  of  the  proper 
proportions. 

In  preparing  to  try  on  a new  corset,  first  lace  the 
corset  loosely  from  fop  to  bottom.  In  inserting  the 
lacings  at  the  waist  line,  pass  them  through  two  con- 
secutive eyelets  on  the  same  side,  thus  making  a loop 


124  TALKS  TTPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

in  the  lacing.  Then  put  on  the  corset  and  draw  it 
up  first  at  the  waist  line  to  the  required  tightness  by 
means  of  these  loops.  In  this  way  the  smallest  part 
of  the  corset  will  find  the  smallest  part  of  the  waist, 
and  it  will  settle  into  its  natural  position.  Then 
tighten  the  lacing  from  the  waist  to  the  bottom,  and 
lastly  from  the  waist  to  the  top,  until  the  whole 
corset  conforms  properly  to  the  contour  of  the  body. 
Corsets  that  become  crooked  are  often  made  so  by 
improper  lacing.  Too  great  pains  cannot  be  observed 
in  properly  lacing  and  fitting  the  corset  when  it  is 
new.  Never  tie  the  lacing  around  the  body ; it  is 
sure  to  ruin  the  best  corset  and  is  also  the  worst 
form  of  tight  lacing. 

A perfectly  fitting  corset  should  not  hurt  at  any 
one  point,  but  should  fit  smoothly  and  easily  upon 
the  whole  figure.  The  front  and  side  steels  can  be 
bent  as  the  wearer  wishes  until  they  conform  to  the 
lines  of  the  body  and  are  easy.  The  upper  part  of 
the  corset  should  never  press  upon  the  bosom,  but 
rather  hold  it  up  and  give  support.  Many  a woman 
has  destroyed  the  swell  of  the  bosom  by  the  pressure 
of  an  ill-constructed  and  badly  fitting  corset.  This  is 
one  of  the  great  advantages  of  the  Coraline  Health 
Corset  and  accounts  for  the  very  large  sale  of  it  in  this 
country ; the  bosom  pads  prevent  pressure,  give  a per- 
fect figure,  and  at  the  same  time  promote  development. 
For  stout  and  fleshy  women  they  are  an  additional 
support,  giving  a long  waist  effect  and  trim  figure. 


CLOTHING. 


125 


What  material  is  best  for  corsets?  The  French 
woman  answered  this  question  long  ago.  The 
material  they  use  more  than  all  others  is  fine,  soft 
coutil,  which  is  light  and  more  durable  than  any  other. 
The  American  woman  has  preferred  satteen,  simply 
because  it  looks  better,  but  the  very  process  of 
making  it  smooth  and  glossy  has  destroyed  some  of 
the  wearing  qualities.  A good  cotton  jean  will  out- 
wear any  satteen,  and  make  a better  corset,  but,  be- 
cause it  does  not  look  as  well  in  the  shop  window, 
the  buyer,  ignorant  of  this  fact,  selects  the  satteen. 
Another  great  advantage  of  coutil  is  that  its-  pecu- 
liarly woven  web  renders  it  more  elastic,  allowing  it 
to  conform  to  the  lines  of  the  body. 

The  best  corset  can  be  ruined  if  not  properly  fitted 
and  properly  cared  for.  Many  a woman  injures  a 
good  one  by  wearing  it  loose  and  her  waist  bands 
tight.  This  will  effectively  girdle  the  best  corset 
and  destroy  it  in  a very  short  time.  She  then  con- 
demns it,  but  she  is  the  one  to  be  condemned  for  not 
knowing  how  to  wear  it.  If  the  important  garment 
is  worn  very  loose,  the  bands  must  be  worn  loose. 
It  is  a good  practice  on  taking  it  off  at  night  to  care- 
fully roll  it  up  and  leave  it  thus  until  morning. 
Women  who  perspire  freely  will  find  it  better  to 
have  two  corsets,  wearing  them  on  alternate  days. 

A woman  handles  carefully  her  new  bonnet,  and 
straightens  out  the  creases  and  folds  of  her  even- 
ing dress,  and  hangs  her  wrap  away  on  a stretcher, 


126  TALKS  UPON  PBACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

but  allows  her  corset  to  shift  for  itself,  and  yet  the 
corset  deserves  more  care  than  any  other  garment. 

The  best  stiffener  for  corsets  are  coraline  and 
whalebone.  Coraline  has  the  advantage  of  whale- 
bone in  being  lighter,  though  not  quite  as  stiff.  It 
is  made  by  binding  together  with  strong  thread  a 
species  of  Mexican  fibre  which  resembles  a heavy, 
long  bristle.  This  is  then  made  flat  and  tempered, 
and  is  absolutely  unbreakable  and  indestructible. 

The  next  best  material  is  the  black  horn  of  the 
buffalo  from  India,  which  has  long  been  used  as  a 
substitute  for  whalebone,  and  is  supposed  by  many 
women  to  be  real  whalebone.  When  new  and  fresh 
it  has  good  wearing  qualities,  but  when  a year  or 
two  old,  whether  used  or  not,  it  becomes  brittle  and 
breaks  like  a dry  bone,  which  it  really  is.  This  is 
the  real  cause  of  so  many  broken  bones  in  corsets. 

Never  buy  a corset  boned  with  steel  or  reed.  The 
steel  is  sure  to  rust  and  break,  and  is  liable  to  curl 
up  on  the  end  when  it  does  break,  and  it  may  make 
an  ugly  wound.  Reed  is  nothing  more  than  a 
woody  strip  that  gives  an  appearance  to  a corset,  but 
really  has  no  value. 

Never  buy  a corset  that  has  been  blocked  or 
molded  over  a steam  form  and  all  the  stretch  taken 
out  of  it.  As  well  might  a woman  have  her  gloves 
stretched  on  some  other  hand  than  her  own.  The 
natural  elasticity  in  the  corset  is  just  what  is  needed 
to  make  it  conform  nicely  to  her  own  figure. 


CLOTHING. 


127 


If  you  are  easy  on  corsets  always  buy  the  lightest 
you  can  get.  It  will  be  the  most  comfortable.  It 
may  net  wear  a,s  long  as  a heavy  corset,  neither  will 
a light,  thin  kid  glove  wear  as  long  as  a buckskin,  yet 
you  buy  the  kid.  The  woman  who  is  hard  on  corsets 
must  be  contented  to  buy  those  containing  more 
bones  and  steels,  and  consequently  heavier,  but  she 
has  no  alternative. 

A good  whalebone  corset  made  of  fine,  light  coutil 
cannot  be  made  and  sold  for  less  than  five  dollars 
per  pair.  Coraline,  while  costing  more  than  horn,  is 
much  less  expensive  than  whalebone.  A good  corset 
in  coraline  can  be  sold  at  frdrii  one  to  four  dollars, 
according  to  the  materials  used  in  construction. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  a few  facts  like  these 
will  aid  ladies  materially  in  buying  and  selecting 
this  necessary  but  much  abused  article  of  dress. 

THE  EEET. 

The  proper  clothing  for  the  feet  demands  more 
attention  than  it  generally  receives.  The  health  and 
comfort  of  the  whole  body  are  intimately  connected 
with  the  condition  of  the  feet.  The  blood  should  be 
allowed  to  circulate  without  restriction  in  these 
extremities,  which  are  farthest  from  the  heart,  and 
for  this  reason  are  more  likely  to  suffer  from  tardy 
circulation  than  any  other  portion  of  the  body. 
Headache,  lassitude,  and  nervousness  often  have 
their  origin  in  cold  feet.  If  they  are  folded  and 


128  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

crowded  into  tightly  fitting  shoes,  and  the  ankles 
bound  by  tight  gaiters,  or  by  snugly  laced  or  but- 
toned boots,  the  veins  and  arteries  are  compressed  and 
the  free  circulation  ,from  the  heart  is  prevented. 
Under  these  conditions  the  feet  are  damp  with  cold 
perspiration,  and  the  whole  body  is  made  to  suffer 
from  the  abused  members  that  are  robbed  of  a free 
supply  of  pure  blood.  Add  to  this  corns,  bunions, 
ingrowing  toe  nails,  and  various  other  accompani- 
ments that  combine  to  make  up  the  fashionable 
dainty  foot,  and  you  have  not  the  thing  of  beauty, 
the  human  foot  as  designed  by  Nature,  but  rather  a 
proper  subject  for  the  pathological  museum. 

How  many  women  who  are  proud  of  their  hands, 
adorned  with  costly  gems,  who  like  an  excuse  to 
remove  a daintily  fitting  glove  that  they  may  display 
them,  would  dare  to  apply  the  same  rule  to  their 
feet ! What  monstrosities  would  be  revealed ! Toes 
over-riding,  five  occupying  the  space  of  three;  the 
soIqs  of  the  feet  folded  together,  with  bunions, 
callouses,  corns,  and  other  excrescences  ! 

How  many  women  realize  that  beauty  is  not  made 
up  entirely  of  a fair  complexion  and  symmetrical 
features,  but  that  grace  of  carriage  is  as  essential  as 
any  other  requisite  to  comeliness  ? Notice  the  gait 
of  any  woman  whose  feet  are  crowded  into  shoes  one 
or  two  sizes  too  small,  and  still  further  crippled  by 
raising  the  heel  two  inches  higher  than  the  toes,  try- 
ing to  balance  herself  on  the  diminutive  extremity 


CLOTHING. 


129 


of  her  pointed  heel.  With  this  toggery  she  saunters 
out  for  a walk  in  the  fresh  air  because  advised  by 
her  physician  to  take  exercise.  Compare  her  move- 
ments with  that  of  the  little  girl  six  or  eight  years 
old  who  has  not  been  44  fashionized  ” ; see  her  trip 
along  with  light,  elastic  step,  the  acme  of  grace  and 
ease..  I have  often  watched  these  angels  of  life  and 
beauty  in  their  graceful  because  natural  movements, 
and  wondered  if  the  time  would  ever  come  when 
they  would  be  allowed  to  grow  to  womanhood  un- 
rnarred  by  Fashion’s  blighting  hand. 

A sfioe  to  fit  properly  should  not  be  so  tight  as  to 
restrict  the  foot,  nor  so  loose  as  to  allow  it  to  slip 
and  slide  upon  the  foot  and  thus  chafe  and  irritate 
it.  The  proper  way  to  measure  the  foot  for  a shoe 
is  to  place  the  foot  upon  a piece  of  paper,  allowing 
the  weight  of  the  body  to  rest  upon  the  foot ; then 
with  a pencil  to  mark  the  outline  of  the  latter  upon 
the  paper.  This  is  the  pattern  for  the  bottom  of  the 
shoe,  and  is  the  only  form  of  shoe  that  will  allow 
you  ease  and  comfort  in  walking.  Many  of  the  best 
shoemakers  now  adopt  this  form  of  measurement  in 
making  shoes  to  order.  If  space  is  allowed  for  the 
sole  of  a foot,  you  can  do  as  you  like  with  the  rest 
of  the  shoe.  It  may  be  long  and  pointed,  or  turned 
up  like  a skate,  or  it  may  be  square  or  round  at  the 
toes  according  to  individual  taste. 

A low-cut,  soft  shoe  will  be  found  more  suitable 
for  the  house  and  for  warm  weather,  as  it  gives  free 


130  TALKS  UPOK  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

play  to  the  ankle,  and  lessens  the  perspiration  of  the 
foot.  The  heel  should  be  low  and  broad,  or  no  heel 
at  all  for  indoor  wear.  If  a high  shoe  is  worn  it  is 
better  to  have  the  upper  part  made  of  cloth,  as  it 
gives  freer  play  to  the  ankle  and  does  not  cause, 
like  leather,  perspiration  of  the  feet.  Persons  suffer- 
ing from  cold  feet  should  wear  woollen  stockings ; 
in  fact,  they  are  a better  foot  covering  for  all  people 
in  cold  weather.  Silk  or  cotton  may  be  worn  in 
summer.  The  stockings  should  always  be  held  up 
by  a stocking  supporter,  as  garters  bound  about  the 
leg  interfere  with  the  circulation.  It  is  also  much 
better  to  attach  the  hose  supporter  to  the  corset  than 
to  a separate  belt  around  the  body. 

Rubbers  may  be  worn  when  necessary  to  keep  the 
feet  dry,  but  it  is  best  to  avoid  the  use  of  them 
when  possible,  as  they  prevent  evaporation,  and  so 
increase  the  moisture  of  the  feet  from  perspiration. 
Sandals  are  less  objectionable  than  rubbers  that  cover 
the  instep.  The  best  walking  boot  for  damp  weather 
should  have  a layer  of  thin  cork  between  the  outer 
and  inner  sole  to  keep  out  the  dampness.  A good 
heavy  sole  will  be  found  easier  to  walk  in,  for  all 
persons,  than  a light,  thin  sole ; but  the  uppers  can 
be  made  as  fine  and  as  light  as  you  desire. 

Sound  and  shapely  feet  should  be  the  rule,  and  not 
the  exception,  and  they  can  be  secured  by  following 
the  advice  we  have  given. 


THE  ART  OF  DRESS. 


BY  ANNIE  JENNE S S-MILLER . 

COMPARATIVELY  few  women  have  fine  taste 
in  dress.  Proof  of  this  is  afforded  by  the 
indifference  with  which  most  women  accept, 
one  after  another,  changing  fashions  without  regard 
to  individual  characteristics. 

To  dre'ss  well  is  an  art,  often  no  more  difficult  in 
the  technical  sense  for  the  woman  of  limited  means 
than  for  one  who  need  not  consider  the  cost  of  what 
she  wears.  To  be  able  to  spend  money  lavishly  upon 
dress  is  not  an  unmitigated  blessing  to  those  of  crude 
■and  uncultured  art  instincts,  because  unlimited  con- 
trol of  money  may  produce  no  more  desirable  results 
than  the  stamp  of  vulgar  exaggeration. 

Above  all  other  considerations,  to  gain  the  reputa- 
tion of  “a  well-dressed  woman,”  one  must  under- 
stand individual  requirements.  To  emphasize  the 
best  tints  of  the  complexion,  the  depths  of  the  eyes, 
and  glints  and  tones  in  the  hair,  one  must  study 
harmony  in  colors  with  no  less  care  than  the  artist 
bestows  upon  the  paints  upon  the  palette  when  he 
creates  a masterpiece. 

To  dress  well  one  must  understand  first  principles. 
There  are  many  considerations  that  should  enter  into 


131 


132  TALKS  UPON  PBACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

the  purchase  of  attire,  whether  it  be  elaborate  or  simple. 
In  choosing  fabrics,  height,  size,  and  the  character  of 
bodily  movements,  whether  lithe  and  delicate,  stately 
or  heavy,  must  be  considered.  For  color  and  general 
style,  age,  complexion,  eyes  and  hair,  social  station, 
and  occasion  for  wear  enter  into  judicious  selection. 

There  is  not  a defect  of  body  that  the  cunning 
artist  in  dress  cannot  soften,  not  an  excellence  that 
may  not  be  accentuated  by  ingeniously  considered 
effects  of  fabric,  combination,  general  design,  tints, 
and  tones.  Such  artistic  knowledge,  however,  like 
the  technique  of  any  art,  must  be  acquired  by 
patient  study.  A musician,  painter,  or  sculptor 
learns  the  working  principles  of  art  by  close  applica- 
tion to  details.  Yet,  superior  as  the  noble  human 
subject  is  to  all  other  creations,  the  laws  governing 
human  expression  are  neglected  because  of  an  ignorant 
tradition  that  good  taste  in  dress  and  natural  grace 
of  movement  are  special  endowments. 

It  is  true  that  some  women  seem  to  possess  instinct 
for  color  and  combination  in  dress,  just  as  children 
show  aptitude  for  the  fine  arts.  Self-evident  talent 
for  music,  sculpture,  or  painting  is  never,  however, 
regarded  as  a reason  for  refusing  opportunity  for 
artistic  culture,  but  rather  as  the  justification  for 
careful  training,  and  dress  will  not  reach  the  dignity 
of  a fine  art  until  similar  common-sense  views  prevail 
concerning  the  principles  of  form,  color,  combination, 
and  expression  in  detail. 


THE  ART  OF  DRESS. 


133 


Dress,  in  general,  as  exemplified  by  the  masses,  re- 
mains a chaos  of  crude  imitations  of  original  ideals 
put  forth  by  cunning  fashion-inventors,  who  give  no 
thought  to  improvement  in  dress,  but  only  to  the 
question  of  how  to  manipulate  alterations  in  shape  and 
style  so  as  to  require  constant  change  upon  the  part 
of  followers.  The  plan  is  commercial,  not  artistic. 
It  is  true  that  good  workmanship,  beautiful  fabrics, 
and ' delicacy  of  touch  often  give  Parisian  designs, 
however  grotesque  in  form,  chic , and  even  an  elegant 
appearance,  which,  however,  the  woman  who  attempts 
to  copy  the  original  in  cheap  materials  by  the  aid  of 
unskilled  workmanship  does  not  achieve ; and  it  is 
this  fact  that  renders  the  mass  of  women  utterly  in- 
elegant when  not  positively  vulgar  in  dress, 

Neither  does  the  woman  who  acquires  possession 
of  the  well-constructed  original  fare,  altogether,  bet- 
ter in  most  instances,  for  the  women  who  buy  ready* 
made  Parisian  models  are  often  people  of  means,  but 
without  taste,  and  letter  incongruity  between  the 
wearer  and  the  thing  worn  is  never  more  glaring 
than  when  money  has  been  spent  without  stint. 

The  well-dressed  woman  has  her  dress  made  for  her 
in  every  detail , and,  whether  it  costs  much  or  little,  it 
just  suits  her  and  brings  out  her  best  points.  One 
can,  if  she  understand  the  art,  dress  well  on  a limited 
income.  For  this  reason  the  art  of  dress  should,  in 
my  judgment,  be  part  of  a woman’s  necessary  educa- 
tion. 


134  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

I have  no  sympathy  with  the  theory  that  the 
higher  a woman’s  intellectual  development  the  less 
thought  she  will  give  to  dress.  All  one-sided  educa- 
tion should  be  deplored.  The  better  a woman’s  im 
tellectual  and  sesthetic  culture,  the  more  exquisite 
her  artistic  perception,  and  the  more  certain  that'  false 
tones  will  offend  her  sensibilities.  A slovenly,  badly 
dressed  woman  produces  the  unpleasant  effect 
upon  a cultured  mind  that  a false  note  in  music 
causes,  and  the  day  has  passed  when  the  critical  will 
accept  higher  mental  attainments  as  explanation  of 
lack  of  sesthetic  culture  and  love  of  refinement  in 
dress. 

False  notes  in  fashion  are  just  beginning  to  be 
understood  and  resisted,  because  of  increasing  mental 
and  sesthetic  development,  and  the  future  will  see 
more,  not  less,  attention  paid  to  dress.  Woman’s 
education  will  in  the  future  embrace  ideals  of  bodily 
development  consistent  with  anatomical  and  physio- 
logical laws,  and  the  human  body  will,  in  consequence, 
become  the  supreme  point  of  decoration  and  expres- 
sion in  the  cultivated  and  artistic  sense. 

With  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  concerning 
the  body  and  its  capacity  for  expression,  attention 
will  be  given  to  individual  characteristics.  Thus 
wfill  be  inaugurated  the  beginning  of  the  higher  art 
of  dress  versus  arbitrary  fashions. 

To  dress  well  one  must  dress  with  no  more  regard 
to  fashionable  traditions  than  is  justified  by  manifest 


THE  ART  OF  DRESS. 


135 


individual  peculiarities.  For  example,  certain  sea- 
sons proclaim  a furore  for  certain  “loud”  colors,  and, 
according  to  fashion’s  behest,  nearly  all  women  wear 
these  colors,  although  the  result  may  be  destructive 
of  natural  beauty  of  tinting.  Delicacy  and  harmony, 
the  postive  tests  of  beauty,  are  thus  sacrificed  to 
novelty.  While  our  general  color  ideals  rise  no 
higher  than  novelty,  there  is  a dawning  conception 
in  the  minds  of  a few  concerning  the  fascination  that 
resides  in  subtlety  and  complexity  of  coloring  that 
argues  well  for  the  future.  I believe  that  the  next 
decade  will  see  a decided  increase  in  the  number  of 
women  who  will  choose  the  colors  of  clothing  for 
purely  personal  and  artistic  reasons,  without  regard 
to  fashion’s  dictation. 

There  are  a few  colors  exactly  suited  to  individual 
requirements  that  should  become  fixed  and  perma- 
nent in  each  woman’s' wardrobe.  These  colors  should 
be  chosen  because  they  tone  down  defects  or  accen- 
tuate natural  brilliancy  of  complexion,  render  the 
eyes  expressive,  and  blend  well  with  the  tints  of  the 
hair.  Choice  of  colors  depending,  therefore,  upon 
natural  characteristics  rather  than  upon  arbitrary 
fashion,  the  woman  whose  income  is  limited  is  set  upon 
equal  footing  with  her  wealthy  sister  by  knowledge 
of  first  principles  of  color  combination,  because  there 
are  few  tints  that  can  be  found  among  costly  fabrics 
that  are  not  reproduced  with  considerable  skill  in 
inexpensive  textiles,  especially  in  those  made  from 


136  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

fine  wool ; while  the  advantage  in  artistic  dress  is 
decidedly  with  the  woman  whose  income  is  limited 
when  she  possesses  color  knowledge  to  which  the 
other  is  a stranger. 

To  understand  exactly  what  colors  to  wear  is  the 
first  step  toward  becoming  a well-dressed  woman, 
and  a most  important  step  toward  true  economy  in 
dress.  The  woman  who  changes  the  color  of  her 
gown,  and  all  the  accessories  of  the  toilet  to  match, 
with  every  change  in  fashion,  dresses  expensively, 
because  there  are  many  different  articles  that  will 
outwear  a single  gown.  If,  upon  the  contrary,  a 
woman  chooses  a few  colors  for  life-wear,  every 
article  purchased  may  be  planned  far  enough  in 
advance  to  be  procured  of  the  best  quality,  selected 
for  long  years  of  probable  usefulness.  With  such 
artistic  selection  no  article  will  become  passe. 

Study  of  color  in  detail  will  give  the  key  to  the 
best  possible  effects  in  dress ; therefore,  generaliza- 
tion in  such  an  article  as  this  must  be  more  or  less 
unsatisfactory.  It  is,  however,  safe  to  say  that  the 
color  of  the  eyes  and  hair  may  be  reproduced  with 
good  effect  with  most  women. 

Violent  contrasts  are  nearly  always  vulgar ; subtle 
blending,  artistic.  The  “ Titian’s  beauty,”  a woman 
of  deep  auburn  and  copper  tints  of  hair,  with  sug- 
gestions of  the  same  color  in  complexion  and  eyes,  is 
always  at  her  best  in  copper-tinted  fabrics.  The 
woman  of  nut-brown  hair  and  eyes  is  lovely  in 


THE  ART  OE  DRESS. 


137 


golden  brown  that  suggests  the  glints  in  both,  while 
no  color  suits  her  better  for  evening  wear  than  the 
rose  that  glows  in  her  cheeks  under  strong  excite- 
ment. The  “bilious,”  yellow-complexioned  woman 
can  wear  certain  shades  of  golden  green  better  than 
any  others,  as  the  stronger  hues  of  her  dress  tone 
(Jown  defects  of  skin.  The  same  woman  clothed  in 
black  becomes  livid,  colorless,  expressionless,  and 
seems  old  beyond  her  actual  years. 

In  choosing  fabrics,  in  order  to  be  well  dressed,  one 
should  always  remember  that  rich  velvets,  silks,  and 
costly  fabrics  are  no  more  suited  to  street  wear  than 
are  expensive  and  showy  jewels.  The  woman  of  limi- 
ted social  opportunities  requires  beautiful  coloring 
in  attire  as  much  as  her  sister  who  rules  in  the 
social  world,  but  she  does  not  require  the  elegance 
of  showiness  to  be  a well-dressed  woman.  One  who 
has  no  other  place  in  which  to  wear  costly  satins, 
brocades,  laces,  and  jewels  save  the  public  streets  has 
no  use  for  such  things,  and  should  indulge  in  none 
of  them.  On  the  contrary,  she  should  devote  her  best 
taste  to  securing  appropriate  woollens  and  cloths  for 
street  attire,  in  the  exact  shade,  texture,  and  weight 
that  will  accentuate  natural  coloring,  general  style, 
carriage,  and  expression  of  body;  and,  above  all, 
must  spend  her  money  judiciously  for  the  very  best 
workmanship. 

There  is  no  truth  concerning  tasteful  and  appro- 
priate dress  that  I feel  more  keenly  in  connection 


138  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

with  street  attire  than  that  of  the  impossibility  of 
getting  effect  and  elegance  from  poor  workmanship. 
A woman  would  far  better  purchase  but  one  .street 
dress  a year  and  have  that  made  over  good  linings 
by  a first-class  tailor  than  to  own  a half  dozen  in- 
ferior street  suits  that  are  the  work  of  indifferent 
'dressmakers. 

One  should  never  leave  the  choice  of  material, 
color,  or  style  to  a tailor,  but  the  grace  of  curved 
lines,  the  cut,  and  workmanship,  and  pressing,  re- 
quire the  mechanical  skill  of  a first-class  workman. 
Tailors  are  educated  to  do  this  work  carefully  and 
consistently,  and  until  there  is  an  absolute  change 
in  general  design  for  all  street  attire,  I favor,  at 
least,  one  carefully  made  tailor  street  dress  yearly 
as  an  expenditure  in  keeping  with  good  taste  and 
economy  in  dress. 

For  this  dress  there  should  be  boots,  gloves,  and 
hat  to  match,  to  be  worn  with  no  other  costume, 
as  the  well-dressed  woman  always  suggests  careful 
attention  to  details.  Shabby  gloves  or  half-worn 
shoes  with  a fresh  street  dress  are  enough  to  destroy 
the  reputation  of  being  “ a well-dressed  woman.” 
Nor  does  economy  demand  such  careless  association 
if  expenditures  be  well  and  wisely  planned. 

For  evening  home  wear,  I favor  a decided  attempt 
at  light,  delicate,  and  picturesque  dress.  Although 
one  may  not  be  “ in  society  ” in  any  exacting  sense, 
most  women  have  friends  who  may  drop  in  for  an 


THE  AET  OF  DEESS. 


189 


evening  chat,  and  it  costs  no  more  to  have  one’s 
evening  dress  of  a well-chosen,  light,  and  attractive 
fabric,  picturesquely  made,  than  to  be  sombrely  at- 
tired, while  the  gain  in  spirit,  and  even  manners,  is 
wonderful. 

To  illustrate,  the  inexpensive  challies,  cr6pe  cloths, 
nun’s  veilings,  and  even  less  expensive  cotton  fabrics 
may  be  so  well  chosen  by  a woman  of  taste,  and  so 
artistically  designed  to  bring  out  expression  of  body 
and  face,  that  one  will  become  an  exquisite  household 
picture  to  the  eyes  of  the  husband  or  other  mascu- 
line members  of  the  family,  returned  from  a day’s 
toil.  It  is  much  easier  for  a man  to  forget  courtesy 
and  to  adopt  a brusque  and  irritating  tone  with  an 
unattractively  than  with  a daintily  and  becomingly 
dressed  woman ; yet  the  latter  style  of  attire  does 
not  necessarily  argue  large  expense.  In  fact,  all  of 
my  studies  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that  art  in 
dress  is  more  a matter  of  educated  taste  in  color  se- 
lection, in  line,  drapery,  form,  utility,  and  suitability 
than  a question  of  expense.  I believe  that  woman’s 
dress  in  the  future  will  be  designed  with  reference 
to  the  wearer’s  personality,  the  immediate  use  to 
which  it  will  be  put,  and,  above  all,  with  regard  for 
eternal  consistencies. 


HOW  TO 

LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL 


BY  MARION  HARLAND. 

WHY,  in  view  of  the  acknowledged  similitude 
of  bud,  and  blossom,  and  fruit  bearing 
to  the  several  stages  of  human  life,  — in- 
fancy, youth,  and  maturity,  — we  should  ignore  the 
fact  that  the  last  stage  is  not  only  the  most  benefi- 
cent, but  the  most  enduring  of  all,  is  not  easy  to 
decide  upon  any  known  principle  of  reasoning. 

The  climacteric  of  a healthy  man’s  life  falls  be- 
tween fifty  and  fifty-six  years  of  age ; of  a healthy 
woman’s,  between  forty-three  and  forty -seven  — 
sometimes  even  later.  There  are  in  every  generation 
instances  of  women  who  have  become  the  mothers 
at  fifty  of  healthy,  well-developed  children.  If  she 
has  lived  wisely,  with  a just  regard  to  the  laws  of 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  health,  this  “turn”  or 
“ change  of  life  ” often  leaves  a woman  stronger  than 
she  was  in  youth.  Pith  and  sap  are  exchanged  for 
solidly  grained  timber. 

A matron  consulted  an  eminent  doctor  — indepen- 
dent of  thought  and  speech,  and  a shrewd  judge  of 
human  nature  — with  regard  to  distressing  headaches 
from  which  she  had  suffered  for  several  months. 


140 


HOW-  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL.  141 

44 1 suppose  there  is  nothing  unnatural  in  the  at- 
tacks,” she  remarked;  44 1 am  forty-five  years  old, 
and  may  consider  myself  henceforward  as  upon  the 
downward  slope  of  life.” 

After  three  weeks’  study  of  the  case,  the  physician 
gave  his  opinion  : — ■ 

44  You  tell  me  that  you  are  forty-five  years  old. 
The  statement  is,  no  doubt,  founded  upon  the  record 
in  the  family  Bible,  which  record  rests  upon  the 
testimony  of  others  than  yourself.  Treat  it  as  hear- 
say evidence,  and  wait  for  positive  proof  before 
acting  upon  it.  After  careful  examination  of  your 
constitution,  I pronounce  you  just  thirty-five  years 
of  age.  After  this,  rate  yourself  ten  years  younger 
than  you  have  been  made  to  believe  that  you  are  — 
and  behave  accordingly.  All  people  who  have  lived 
a certain  .number  of  winters  and  summers  are  not  of 
the  same  age.  Your  headaches  are  the  effect  of 
malaria,  and  can  be  cured  without  making  an  old 
woman  of  you  before-  your  time.” 

His  patient  is  now  sixty,  and  passes  for  fifty  even 
among  those  who  know  her  well.  It  is  a saying 
with  her  friends  that  she  will  never  grow  old,  so 
sensible  has  been  her  obedience  to  the  advice  to 
44  behave  accordingly.”  Her  daily  constitutional  is 
taken  in  all  weathers,  except  in  driving  rainstorms. 
I met  her  last  week,  gaily  breasting  a 44  nor’ wester,” 
laden  with  snow  — 44  so  dry  it  could  hurt  nobody,” 
she  declared  laughingly,  her  eyes  as  bright  and 


142  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS* 

cheeks  as  rosy  as  they  were  at  sixteen*  Her  daily 
bath  is  followed  by  ten  minutes  of  gentle  gymnastic 
exercises,  u to  keep  her  joints  supple”;  her  diet  is- 
regulated  by  knowledge  of  constitutional  idiosyncra- 
sies and  of  what  is  wholesome  and  strengthening ; 
she  gets  plenty  of  sleep,  and  is  conscientious  in  the 
matter  of  recreation. 

Other  women  there  are,  and  not  a few,  who  are 
older  by  years  than  the  family  Bible  declares  them 
to  be.  Heredity  — cruel  as  the  grave  in  which  lie 
those  who  bequeathed  the  blight  — has  entailed 
upon  them  the  consequences  of  others’  sins  or  mis- 
fortunes, or  youthful  errors  or  illnesses  have 
weakened  bodily  force.  Heredity  is  strong,  but 
environment  and  a judicious  use  of  conservative 
measures  are  more  potent.  The  first  step  toward 
counteracting  an  inherited  bias  in  such  a*  case  is  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  danger  and  the  possible 
means  of  escape,  or  at  least  relief.  It  is  a pity  that 
in  the  diligent  search  into  old  deeds,  letters,  town- 
ship, and  church  and  State,  papers  for  evidence  that 
may  enrol  us  among  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution 
and  Colonial  Dames,  we  have  not  unearthed  data  of 
diseases  and  excesses  that  might  put  us  on  our  guard 
against  what  usually  falls  upon  the  victim  like  a 
thief  in  the  night.  Medical  examiners  of  life 
insurance  companies  give  us  significant  hints  in  this 
direction.  Each  of  us  should  reckon  up  her  own 
risks  and  shape  her  course  by  the  conclusions  gained 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL. 


143 


during  the  calculation.  If  there  be  a weak  point  in 
her  constitution,  ignorance  is,  at  best,  a besotted  sort 
of  bliss.  The  sooner  she  finds  it  out  and  uses  pre- 
ventive measures,  the  better  for  herself  and  the 
generation  that  is  to  follow  her. 

It  is  a duty  to  keep  well.  It  is  a duty  to  live  so 
well  as  to  live  long  and  to  pass  on  longevity  with 
health  to  our  children’s  children.  With  all  the 
sense  and  nonsense  that  have  been  talked  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,  able  thinkers  are  prone  to  leave 
out  of  the  question  the  truth  that  it  is  not  always  the 
strongest  children  who  survive  the  weakest,  and  that 
men  and  women  who  at  forty  are  semi-invalided  in 
the  opinion  of  friends  and  physicians,  often  regain  a 
fair  degree  of  health  and  live  to  an  old  age.  The 
clue  to  this  one. of  the  “Enigmas  of  Life  ” is  almost 
invariably  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  unsound 
point  of  each  constitution  has  been  discovered, 
acknowledged,  and  systematically  defended. 

A man  of  forty-five  had  been  considered  for  fifteen 
years  a hopeless  dyspeptic,  and  was  supposed  to  be 
dying  of  a painful  gastric  affection.  The  physicians 
did  not  conceal  from  him  their  belief  that  he  had  but 
a few  days  to  live. 

“Then,”  said  the  patient,  “I  must  take  my  case 
into  my  own  hands.  James  ! ” to  his  servant, 
“ bring  my  horse  around  to  the  door  ! ” 

He  was  lifted  into  the  saddle  and  held  there  by 
the  groom  while  he  rode  a quarter  of  a mile.  On  the 


144  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

following  day  the  excursion  was  repeated,  and  so  on 
for  three  weeks,  until  the  dyspeptic  was  convalescent. 
In  like  independence  of  spirit,  he  made  a careful  study 
of  the  food  best  adapted  to  the  peculiarities  of  his 
digestive  organs,  and  kept  steadily  to  the  dietary 
formulated  in  obedience  to  this  self-knowledge.  He 
died  in  a useful,  placid  old  age  at  ninety -three,  retain- 
ing his  intellectual  faculties  to  the  last,  and  never 
remitting  the  daily  horseback  exercise  until  three 
months  before  his  death. 

A woman  of  forty,  who  had  suffered  for  two  years 
from  hemorrhages  of  the  lungs,  cough,  night-sweats, 
and  other  symptoms  of  consumption,  lay  under 
sentence  of  death  pronounced  by  three  physicians. 

“ I don’t  believe  it,”  she  told  her  husband  daunt- 
lessly ; “ I have  reserves  of  vitality  they  do  not 
suspect.  Give  me  a chance  and  I will  get  well  in 
spite  of  doctors.” 

After  a two  years’  foreign  tour,  the  consumptive 
came  home,  well  and  bright,  but  with  a tender  spot 
at  the  apex  of  the  right  lung  where  an  abscess  had 
healed. 

“Then  I must  thicken  the  armor  over  it,”  said 
the  whilom  patient.  “ I must  never  let  myself  have 
a cough ; prevent  colds  by  all  means  in  my  power, 
and  keep  the  rest  of  the  body  strong  enough  to 
reinforce  the  weak  point  if  necessary.” 

That  was  twenty  years  ago.  She  is  still  alive, 
active  and  apparently  in  robust  health,  but  she  never 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL.  145 

forgets  that  she  has  a vulnerable  point,  and  never 
lowers  her  guard. 

As  a rule  of  wide  and  close  application,  the  man 
or  woman  who  would  live  long  must  have  some  spe- 
cific purpose  in  life.  It  is  proverbial  that  ninety  out 
of  every  hundred  men  who  are  thrown  out  of,  or 
voluntarily  give  up,  active  business  after  they  are 
sixty  years  of  age  soon  sink  into  imbecility  or  die. 
So  well  established  is  this  fact  that  to  the  retired  ex- 
partner is  often  allotted  some  nominal  employment 
which  deludes  him  into  the  fancy  that  he  is  still  a 
personage  of  importance  in  the  firm. 

It  would  be  well  if  affectionate  ingenuity  were  as 
ready  to  beguile  the  elderly  woman  out  of  the  per- 
suasion that  her  period  of  usefulness  is  over  — and 
forever.  The  black  shadow  of  this  belief  falls  very 
early  in  her  day  of  action  and  consequence. 

The  observation  or  experience  of  many  women 
who  read  this  will  bear  me  out  in  the  assertion  that 
the  decade  separating  fifty  from  sixty  is  often  a 
dreary  level.  The  "active  cares  of  the  nursery  are 
demitted ; “ the  boys  are  taking  care  of  themselves  ; ” 
the  girls  in  college,  or  boarding-school,  or  out  in  the 
gay  world.  Now  and  then  a daughter  is  married 
and  away.  For  the  first  time  since  she  stood  at  the 
altar  the  wife  finds  herself  comparatively  at  leisure. 
Between  two  seasons,  to  borrow  a mercantile  phrase, 
she  “takes  account  of  sto.ck.”  She  has  lost  the 
good  looks  and  vivacity  of  youth ; she  cannot  yet 


146  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

subside  into  the  placidity  of  age  that  finds  a harbor 
in  the  armchair,  and  in  the  footstool  a lift  above  the 
wash  of  the  waves  of  domestic  worries. 

“ I am  like  a milch  cow  that  has  gone  dry ! ” said 
a woman  of  sixty  to  me,  driven  into  coarseness  by 
bitterness  of  soul.  “ And  the  prejudices  of  a Chris- 
tian land  are  against  fattening  me  for  beef.” 

Said  another,  “A  woman  of  fifty,  whose  children 
are  grown  and  settled  in  life,  has  no  place  in  the 
world.  Up  to  that  age  she  may  be  said  to  live 
upon  her  income.  After  that  she  draws  upon  the 
principal.  Her  children  may  be  dutiful  and  affec- 
tionate, but  she  knows,  and  so  do  they,  that  she  goes 
upon  her  past  reputation. 

I was  forty-five  years  of  age  before  it  came  to  me 
(I  am  sure  nobody  ever  suggested  it)  that  one  ought 
to  find  at  the  top  of  the  hill  a fair  plateau,  with  a 
fine  view  on  clear  days  of  the  Delectable  Mountains, 
where  she  might  dwell  in  busy  content  for  many 
years.  We  dishonor  our  Maker  and  ourselves  when 
we  climb  the  heights,  only  to  totter  dizzily  upon  a 
sharp  comb,  and  then  begin  to  roll  down  the  preci- 
pice on  the  other  side. 

This  is  false  economy  and  false  religion.  Among 
the  blunders  which  have  brought  it  about,  I place  : — 
The  failure  of  the  woman  who  assumes  the  cares 
of  house  and  family  to  “ keep  herself  up  ” in  mind, 
body,  and  estate.  Instead  of  bringing  her  work  up 
to  her,  she  has.  settled  down  to  the  level  of  her  work 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL.  147 

— or,  rather,  the  level  on  which  other  women  have 
put  it.  She  has  not  made  fresh  air  for  speech  and 
thought  a sacred  duty. 

In  narrowing  the  world  for*  herself,  she  has  cir- 
cumscribed it  for  her  children  in  her  own  mind. 
Their . relations  to  herself  and  home  have  absorbed 
her  thoughts  and  energies.  In  imagination,  she 
follows  them  no  further  than  the  edge  of  the  nest, 
or,  at  farthest,  to  the  nearest  twig.  If  her  daughter 
gets  a husband,  and  her  boy  “ a good  situation,”  she 
has  done  her  best  for  them.  Sympathy  and  counsel 
for  the  Beyond,  which  is  a terra  incognita  to  her,  are 
of  the  vaguest  kind.  To  be  helpful,  the  mother 
must  not  be  a specialist,  but  what  is  known  as  “ an 
all  around  woman.” 

Comparatively  few  women  love  learning  so  well 
for  learning’s  sake  as  to  keep  the  intellectual  muscles 
in  play  during  the  years  when  domestic  cares  press 
heavily.  When,  by  and  by,  leisure  renders  mental 
labor  practicable,  and  love  makes  it  expedient,  study 
is  hardship.  Memory  has  rusted  in  the  joints,  and 
thought  will  not  return  to  the  long  disused  habit  of 
application  to  a given  subject.  Solid  reading  lies 
heavily  upon  the  mental  stomach.  In  short,  “ mother 
is  too  old  to  be  put  to  school.” 

Moreover,  and  here  comes  the  hugest  stumbling 
block,  why  should  she  learn  anything  at  her  time 
of  life  ? 

Her  cry  is  : — 


148  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

“ Ah,  why 

Should  life  all  labor  be  ? 

Let  us  alone ! Time  drivetli  onward  fast, 

And  in  a little  while  our  lips  are  dumb. 

Let  us  alone!” 

There  does  come  a time  in  the  human  pilgrimage 
when  toil  in  mid-ocean  may  be  lawfully  exchanged 
for  rest  in  the  dry  dock  ; when  one  may  croon  : — 

“ There  is  no  joy  but  calm,” 

with  an  easy  conscience  toward  God  and  man.  But 
give  to  a woman  tolerable  health,  and  that  time 
should  lie  on  the  thither  side  of  four  score.  “ Old 
age,”  says  an  eminent  writer  upon  physiology, 
“ begins  normally  at  seventy  or  eighty,  prematurely 
at  fifty,  or  even  thirty.” 

It  is,  then,  a matter  of  choice  at  Vhat  point  the 
downward  course  commences.  The  best  proof  of 
this  is  that  dotage  and  desuetude  come  sooner  to  the 
idle  than  to  the  busy.  Activity  begets  activity. 

What  should  be  the  long  season  of  natural  ripen- 
ing is  one  of  gentle  processes,  of  healthful  pauses, 
careful  conservation  of  forces  and  steadfast  pur- 
pose. 

Which  suggests  another  cause  of  early  decay : — 

We  do  not  know  how  to  accommodate  ourselves 
to  the  conditions  of  ripe  age.  There  is  one  glory  of 
youth,  and  another  glory  of  middle  age,  and  another 
glory  of  declining  years ; and  each  differs  from  the 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONGr  AND  WELL.  149 

other  in  glory,  as  do  the  planets  from  the  fixed  stars 
aiid  the  sun  from  the  moon. 

My  plea,  in  this  paper,  is  for  this  middle  ground 
between  puerility  and  senility,  and  for  permission  to 
abide  therein.  It  is  better  to  be  a well-preserved 
elderly  person  than  to  look  at  best  like  a damaged 
young  one.  Having  taken  the  position,  let  us  fill  it. 
There  is  meaning  in  the  longer  sight  that  grows 
upon  us  with  years.  We  see  further  and  judge  more 
correctly  than  we  did  thirty  years  back.  The  short- 
sighted and  the  ignorant  need  us.  In  this  persuasion 
we  should  husband  our  resources  and  calculate 
aright  our  reserves  of  strength.  We  do  not  run 
up  and  down  stairs  now,  but  we  are  more  useful 
when  we  get  there.  We  turn  off  less  work,  but  it 
is  of  a better  quality.  We  have  settled  upon  our 
lees,  and  are  ready  to  rack  off  clear  wine. 

Provided  always  that  we  have  never  allowed  our- 
selves to  leave  out  of  sight  the  comforting  truth 
that  we  have  a place,  and  an  honorable  one,  to  fill. 
From  first  to  last  the  thing  to  be  feared  is  rust . 
Our  juniors,  perhaps,  hold  us  so  precious  that  they 
would  wrap  us,  figuratively,  in  cotton  wool  and 
lay  us  upon  a safe  shelf.  We  avoid  the  calamitous 
distinction  by  keeping  bright  and  busy.  If  we 
forget  ourselves  in  the  weal  of  others,  time  will  for- 
get us. 

A wise  writer  tells  us  that,  “ Even  old  age  should 
be  animated  by  a purpose.  An  aim  is  antiseptic; 


150  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

it  resists  the  invasion  of  decay.  There  is  no  such 
anodyne  for  the  ills  and  pains  of  life  as  the  absorption 
of  the  attention  in  worthy  objects.” 

We  recall  in  this  connection  Mary  Somerville’s 
last  book,  written  and  published  at  ninety,  and 
Maria  Mitchell’s  beneficently  busy  old  age.  Goethe 
began  the  study  of  a new  language  at  eighty ; our 
own  Hplmes,  the  most  lovely  and  genial  of  autocrats, 
renewed  his  youth  and  ours  44  over  the  tea  cups  ” ; 
Whittier  carried  down  to  an  honored  grave  the  story 
of  fruit  in  old  age  already  told  by  Bryant  and 
Longfellow. 

4l,&When  the  people  in  the  streets  ceased  to  turn  to 
look  after  me  I knew  that  all  was  over,”  said  the 
handsomest  woman  in  France.  Ninon  de  l’Enclos, 
without  a tithe  of  Recamier’s  beauty,  retained  her 
sceptre  until  eighty.  We  read,  with  a smile  that 
is  not  all  wonder,  of  her  coquettish  reserve  of  a 
favorable  answer  to  a lover,  that  the  coveted 
44 yes”  might  be  a pleasant  surprise  to  him  on  her 
seventieth  birthday.  At  seventy-five,  delightful 
Mrs.  Delany  invented  the  art  of  making  paper 
mosaic  flowers,  and  completed  in  eight  years  one 
thousand  plants. 

Busy,  contented,  happy,  and  honored  to  the  last 
day  of  her  eighty-eight  years,  she  has  left  us  a 
precious  commentary  upon  the  beneficial  effects  of  a 
life  filled  to  the  full  with  various  useful  and  en- 
nobling pursuits.  She  who  fears  to  work  after 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL. 


151 


reaching  maturity,  and  thus  abridge  the  term  of  her 
mortal  existence,  cannot  consult  a more  suggestive 
and  pleasing  memoir  of  one  who  dreaded  neither 
work  nor  death. 

A charming  biographical  work  of  later  date  is 
The  Story  of  Two  Noble  Lives , by  Augustus  J.  C. 
Hare.  While  dealing  mainly  with  the  lives  of  two 
sisters,  — Countess  Canning,  whose  husband  was 
viceroy  of  India  during  the  Sepoy  mutiny,  and 
her  sister,  the  Marchioness  of  Waterford,  — Mr.  Hare 
talks  much  incidentally-  of  a Grandmamma  Hard- 
wicke,  44  a beautiful  old  lady,  graceful  and  gracious,” 
at  ninety-five ; of  her  daughter,  Lady  Mexborough, 
who,  when  seventy-six,  amazed  one  of  her  mother’s 
visitors  by  running  upstairs,  and  calling  out 
44  Mamma  ! ” ; of  another  daughter,  Lady  Stuart  de 
Rothesay,  energetic  and  delightful  at  seventy-seven ; 
of  Lady  Louisa  Stuart,  44  who  retained  to  her  ninety- 
fourth  year  the  charm  of  conversational  vivacity  for 
which  she  had  been  remarkable  in  her  youth;”  and 
of  44  old,  old  Lady  Salisbury,  who  fell  over  a great 
chest  which  looked  as  if  it  must  kill  her,  and  was 
half  affronted  at  being  picked  up.” 

44  No  wonder,”  adds  the  lively  letter-writer  who 
records  the  reminiscence,  44  when  at  eighty  she  was 
so  proud  of  her  activity  that  she  talked  of  4 vaulting 
into  bed’!” 

Lady  Waterford,  who  outlived  her  mother  and 
sister,  was  surprised  at  seventy-three  by  the  approach 


152  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

of  the  dark  angel.  She  “had  thought  to  live  to 
seventy-seven,  as  her  mother  did,”  and  head,  heart, 
and  hands  were  full  of  work  she  had  hoped  to 
finish. 

“ It  is  like  some  great  ship  sailing  into  harbor 
and  into  smooth  water,”  wrote  an  observer  of  her 
last  days.  She  was  in  her  forty-ninth  year  when 
Watts  and  Burne-Jones  urged  her  to  paint  one  of 
her  designs  on  a sufficient  scale  and  with  a degree 
of  completeness  which  should  satisfy  posterity  that 
she  was  “an  artist  as  great  as  Venice  ever  knew.” 
The  partial  list  of  her  drawings  and  water-colors  fills 
twelve  pages  of  the  memoirs. 

One  closes  the  volume  with  a wholesome  convic- 
tion of  the  privileges  and  opportunities  of  age. 
Wholesome,  because  the  knowledge  of  what  these 
women  dared  and  did  in  the  afternoon  of  life 
strengthens  the  hands  that  hang  down  and  the  knees 
that  grow  feeble  as  elderly  people  count  up  the 
many  years  that  have  passed  over  their  heads,  and 
reflect  how  few  probably  remain  to  them. 

In  further  refutation  of  the  vulgar  theory  that 
intellectual  work  weakens  the  bodily  powers  and 
shortens  life,  we  may  remind  ourselves  that  Goethe 
died  at  eighty-two ; Thomas  Jefferson,  at  eighty- 
three,  and  the  first  John  Adams  upon  the  same 
day,  at  ninety;  John  Newton,  at  eighty-four;  that 
Peter  Cooper  lived  to  be  ninety-two,  John  Jacob 
Astor  to  be  eighty-four;  that  Von  Moltke  saw  his 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL.  153 

ninety-first  birthday,  and  David  Dudley  Field  his 
ninetieth,  and  Thomas  Carlyle  weathered  dyspep- 
sia and  a peppery  temper  that  was  a trial  to  his 
friends  and  killed  his  wife  — up  to  his  eighty-sixth 
year. 

The  list  might  be  spun  out  to  the  extreme  limit 
of  this  article  and  leave  unmentioned  hundreds  who 
have  “ held  their  own  ” among  the  world’s  workers 
until  the  term  set  by  the  ignorant  and  thoughtless 
as  the  “ period  of  human  usefulness  ” is  far  in  the 
past. 

There  is  no  fixed  period  to  human  usefulness 
until  the  Giver  of  life  and  every  other  good  and 
perfect  thing  calls  a halt!  Work  in  itself  never 
killed  anybody.  When  performed  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  nervous  worry,  and  in  blind  disregard  of 
even  the  animal  instincts  that  prescribe  healthful 
food  taken  quietly  and  regularly,  and  sleep,  rest, 
and  recreation,  Work,  which  is  a blessing,  de- 
generates into  Labor,  which  is  a curse. 

Rust  is  more  hurtful  in  mature  life  than  labor 
itself.  Make  a specific  occupation  for  your  time  and 
energies  if  none  is  laid  ready  to  your  hand,  and  choose 
it  for  yourself.  Mature  age  is  the  season  for  hobbies. 
Each  of  us  has  one  in  her  mind,  which  she  has  never 
had  time  to  mount  or  perhaps  the  means  to  buy  and 
stable. 

Invest  in  a “ specialty  ” if  you  would  keep  off 
wrinkles  and  blue-devils.  Bugs,  bees,  botany,  even 


154  TALKS  UPON  PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

bedquilts, — if  worked  diligently  and  intelligently, — 
serve  the  purpose  of  vigorous  plashing  in  waters 
infested  by  sharks.  They  frighten  off  things  for 
which  useless  old  people  are  the  natural  prey. 

It  is  not  possible  that  the  matchless  economy  of 
the  Universe  should  halt  in  respect  to  the  noblest 
and  best  beloved  of  God’s  creations.  The  man  who 
is  destined  to  live  until  eighty  should  not  have 
spent  half  of  that  period  in  learning  how  to  play  his 
part  in  the  world,  another  quarter  in  carrying  out 
God’s  designs  in  and  for  him,  and  the  remaining 
quarter  as  a cumberer  of  the  ground  he  has  brought 
to  fertility  and  value.  Such  waste  of  time,  strength, 
and  accumulated  capital  would  be  cried  out  upon  as 
wretched  mismanagement,  were  the  scheme  of  man’s 
devising. 

I submit,  as  the  conclusion  of  this  talk  upon  what 
I would  make  a Practical  Subject  for  every  reader : — 

First : That  youth  and  the ' early  stages  of  ma- 

turity are  seasons  of  preparation  for  the  more  pro- 
longed, and  what  should  be  more  productive,  period 
of  human  life,  and  that,  regarded  as  such,  they  should 
be  wisely  employed  in  making  ready . and  seeding 
the  soil  against  harvest  time. 

Second:  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  human 

being  to  have  a just  comprehension  of  the  opportu- 
nities and  purpose  of  each  era  of  existence  and  to 
receive  the  same  as  a trust  from  Him  to  Whom  ac- 
count must  be  given. 


HOW  TO  LIVE  LONG  AND  WELL.  155 

Finally,  that  definite  employment,  observance 
of  sanitary  conditions,  practical  and  loving  sym- 
pathy with  our  fellow-men,  and  cheerful  trust  in 
Him  Who  has  appointed  to  each  his  work  and  wages 
are  the  best  means  of  lifting  the  slur  of  44  decadence  ” 
from  what  should  be  natural  and  beautiful  RIPEN- 
ING. 


156 


ADVERTISEMENTS , 


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S^WASiRY 


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CORALINE  CORSETS 


Made  in  every  variety  of  pattern  to  fit  all  fig- 
ures ; tall,  short,  slender,  stout,  and  with  long, 
short,  or  medium  waists.  They  are  called  Cor- 
aline  Corsets  because  they  are  boned  with 
Coraline,  a material  which  has  been  proven  by 
fifteen  years’  experience  to  be  superior  in  strength 
and  elasticity  to  whalebone. 


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These  corsets  are  fitted  to  living  models. 

The  right  corset  fits  you  as  though  made  for 
you. 

You  don’t  have  to  fit  yourself  to  it,  it  fits  you. 

A corset  must  fit  or  it  will  not  wear. 

The  fit  of  the  corset  gives  style  to  the  wearer. 
Fit  costs  no  more  than  misfit. 

Prices  from  one  to  twelve  dollars,  but  what- 
ever the  price  the  fit  is  the  same. 

If  these  corsets  did  not  fit  and  wear  better 
than  any  others,  the  makers  could  not 
keep  four  million  women  wearing  them, 
— four  million  honest  witnesses. 

Sold  by  every  one  who  sells  corsets. 


| THE  WARNER  BROTHERS  CO.,  New  York  and  Chicago. 


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There  isn’t  a woman  or  a child  anywhere  for  whom 
we  haven’t  a corset  or  waist  adapted  to  her  figure, 
with  all  the  style  and  comfort  of  custom  fit. — The 
prices  range  from  fifty  cents  for  children’s  waists  to 
twelve  dollars  for  corsets,  according  to  the  amount 
of  labor  and  value  of  materials  — the  price  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  fit  — all  fit.  The  corsets  are 
put  up  under  a variety  of  names,  such  as,  Health  ; 
Coraline ; Abdominal;  Nursing;  in*  222;  333; 
444;  555  ; 666  ; 777  5 888  ; 999  ; 000;  AAA; 
BBB  ; DDD  ; Misses;  Directoire  ; Fanita ; etc., 
each  representing  a different  shape  and  price. 
In  addition  to  these  names  every  corset  is  stamped 
with  the  words,  “ Dr.  Warner’s  Coraline,”  and  none 
are  genuine  without  this  stamp. — Find  the  corset 
that  is  adapted  to  you  — then  always  order  that 
style  and  number. — Every  corset  has  been  accu- 
rately fitted  to  a living  model  of  the  exact  form  of 
the  woman  whom  it  is  designed  to  fit.  We  employ 
the  most  expert  fitters,  and  spend  thousands  of  dol- 
lars annually  in  corset  perfecting.  The  great  pop- 
ularity of  our  corsets  is  due  to  fit,  to”  superior  work- 
manship and  material,  and  to  the  stiffening  material, 
Coraline,  which  never  breaks  like  horn  or  whale- 
bone. These  features  give  the  true  secret  of  the 
success  which  has  established  our  house  as  the 
largest  corset  makers  in  the  world. 


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ADVERTISEMENTS, 


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Some  ladies  like  waists  better  than  corsets,  and  for  them 
we  make  a line  of  waists,  and  call  them  Perfection  Waists, 
because  “ perfection  ” describes  them.  They  are  as  soft  and 
pliable  as  a waist  can  be,  and  the  buttons  are  attached  to 
tapes  which  are  securely  fastened  to  the  garment,  to  pre- 
vent tearing.  The  front,  side,  and  back  supporters  are  of 
platinum,  and  are  removable,  to  be  taken  out  when  the 
garment  is  washed,  or  they  can  be  left  out  altogether  if 
the  wearer  prefers.  Most  garments  have  the  stiffening 
blade  directly  underneath  the  buttons  and  buttonholes, 
attached  to  one  side,  which  holds  one  side  smooth  only. 
In  some  of  our  styles  we  place  these  blades  just  back  of 
the  buttons  on  one  side,  and  of  the  buttonholes  on  the 
other,  undefneath  a strip,  making  the  front  thinner,  and 
preventing  it  from  losing  its  shape,  or  wrinkling  at  the 
waist  line.  Our  waists  are  adapted  to  every  figure,  and 
all  of  them  possess  the  full  ease  and  comfort  of  a truly 
hygienic  waist,  with  the  fit  and  figure  of  a comfortable 
corset. 

For  young  ladies  and  misses  w7e  make  a waist  which 
furnishes  perfect  support  from  the  shoulders  rather  than 
from  the  hips  — the  most  healthful  and  satisfactory  gar- 
ment for  girls  from  eight  to  sixteen  years  of  age.  These 
waists  are  made  from  fine  soft  jean,  and  the  buttons  are 
attached  to  the  waists  by  tapes,  which  prevent  tearing. 

For  children,  our  waists  are  perfect  fitting,  easy  of  ad- 
justment, and  afford  ample  support . for  the  under  gar- 
ments and  hose  supporter.  They  are  made  of  fine  silesia, 
lined  with  soft  jean.  The  buttons  are  attached  by  tapes 
to  webbing  which  is  set  into  the  cloth,  making  it  impos- 
sible for  them  to  tear  out. 

Full  description  of  these  waists  will  be  sent  free  upon 
application. 


V»v 


The  Warner  Brothers  Company,  359  Broadway,  New  York  City. 


m 


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ADVERTISEMENTS. 


159 


* 


DR.  WARNER  S 
SECURITY 

HOSE  SUPPORTER 

It  cannot  slip  off  or  cut  the  stocking. 

No  metal  in  contact  with  the  flesh. 

No  ruined  stockings. 

No  embarrassing  breakdowns. 

By  a special  device  it  is  made  without  any 
stitches  in  the  elastic,  which  makes  it 
outlast  two  supporters  of  the  old  kind. 
It  holds  thick  stockings. 

It  holds  thin  stockings. 

It  holds  all  stockings. 

Easily  applied  by  any  child. 


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Sold  everywhere.  Sample  sets  by  mail ; Silk,  Ladies’,  36 
cents,  with  belts,  70  cents;  Children’s,  28  cents;  Cotton, 
Ladies,  16  cents,  with  belts,  24  cents;  Children’s,  12  cents. 


THE  WARNER  BROTHERS  CO.,  359  Broadway,  New  York. 


160 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Til  STAYS 
THAT  STAY 


Dr.  Warner’s  Coraline  Dress  Stay 

'M.  Ml  M Ml  Ml  Ml  M 1M.  Ml  M Ml  M.  M.  M,  A A*  ^ 

There  is  no  stay  so  light, 
so  strong,  so  flexible,  so  com- 
fortable, so  universally  satis- 
factory. Recommended  by  j 
all  leading  dressmakers.  It  | 
stands  the  test  of  time , not 
the  cheapest,  but  the  best. 

WW-S?  

mail  twenty  cents.  Sold  everywhere.  • % 

ne  x x kxx  :x :x:xxx:x::x:x:x xm.  * > . 

: Dr  .Warner’s  Platinum  Dress  Stay  ^ 

Sv.v  '// V V -7  " 'X'  ■ • ' ' ''■y''  ' ' ' V .A,  A.':  -A,,.  ■ 

The  only  metal  stay  that  is  absolutely  rust= 

proof  and  that  dressmakers  recommend 

Sample  sets  for  one  dress,  by  mail,  ten  cents. 

rx  3^  M Ml  M M Ml  M Ml  Ml  M M K M.  Ml 

THE  WARNER  BROTHERS  CO.,  359  Broadway,  New  Yo*‘ 


